Burning On
by TheBlazingPinkInferno
Summary: It's been almost three years since the war, and Konoha's Will of Fire burns on. But, when tragedy strikes amidst the peace, the village's youngest Hokage and his comrades are forced to act, aspire, and grow, all to protect those important to them. In terms of pairings, primarily NaruSaku, but also focuses on the other characters. Post-war fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! If it wasn't obvious already, my pen name is TheBlazingPinkInferno and I'm extremely flattered you've decided to begin my story (that or you accidentally clicked on it, which is fine too)! This is my first story so I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to writing things like this, but I've loved Naruto for a long time now and have decided to express it in writing. Unfortunately, and I hope this doesn't turn some people away, but I was not at all satisfied with the ending of the series, as I felt that Kishimoto left a lot of developments open ended and unresolved. It had nothing to do with the ending pairings per say, more with how I felt some of the character's interactions were very out of character in the epilogue and the movie, Naruto: The Last. I felt that Naruto and Sakura getting together after the war would be very in character for both of them, so that's why they're the main pairing of this story. **

**Nonetheless, I do focus on other characters too, and I plan to dedicate a lot of time to them too, because I thought they were also underappreciated by Kishimoto in the last developments of Kishimoto's series. So if you're looking for a story that is all about sappy romance between two characters, then this is not for you. I don't own these characters, and I am not "re writing the ending".**

**This story takes place about three years after the conclusion of the Fourth Shinobi World War and Sasuke and Naruto's second fight at the Valley of the End (I loved this in the manga), and is, essentially, what I envision would've happened afterwards. Again, I'm a complete noob at all this. But I hope that you find something you like in this first chapter! Please comment and review!**

* * *

Chapter 1

The wind blew in such a way that no one could possibly notice the bustling village hidden within the trees. People had always wondered why it was called the "Leaf Village", and most of the ninja who lived there had come to the conclusion that it was because of the gigantic, looming woodland that surrounded it. Everywhere you looked, there were trees, and if you focused the chakra in your eyes hard enough, you could see the individual leaves blowing in the breeze. All the trees and leaves worked together to conceal the village and protect it from outside invaders. They worked together to keep the village safe, just like the hardworking ninja who lived there. This was why it was called "Konoha".

"At least, that's what Gramps told me once," Konohamaru said.

"Honestly 'Hamaru," Moegi sighed, "I'd listen to your stories any other time. But, could you focus here? I don't want to be caught doing this."

Konohamaru pushed off another branch to keep up with her. She moved fast when she wanted to. "Oh, come on! It's a good story!"

She groaned. "Your stories are rarely good."

"They are if you listen to them!"

The two swung through the trees like monkeys and hopped off limbs like gazelles. Moegi was right. They had every reason to be cautious. Once someone from the hospital noticed one of the slug summoning scrolls was gone, they'd send someone out to look for it.

"Seriously, Moegi," Konohamaru said, "You couldn't have picked another technique to teach yourself? I really don't want Sakura's monster strength on my ass."

Moegi rolled her eyes. "Geez," she chided. "You have to be respectful! Say 'Sakura-sama'! She's much older and stronger than you are!"

"Hence why I said _I_ _don't want her strength on my ass_," Konohamaru remarked, the wind whipping his hair as he gripped a tree limb and swung off of it. "And why are _you_ talking about respect? You're the one doing the stealing."

Moegi's face reddened. "Shut up! You know I want t-"

"I know, I know. Sheesh."

Konohamaru huffed and eyed the scroll Moegi was carrying. It was about a foot long and had a red tassel on the end. It had been sitting on a table by the window in the hospital when they'd found it, almost as if it had wanted to be taken. Moegi had wanted to learn it so badly, and when she really wanted something and used her "big brown eyes" technique that Konohamaru hated, he normally couldn't refuse.

They had grabbed it easily, without a witness in sight. Konohamaru was confident he could take anyone who was on their trail. And even if he couldn't, he'd just tell them what he'd been mentally rehearsing for the last five minutes: '_She wants to learn slug summoning so badly_, _and she wants to be a top medical ninja. Do you really want to keep this poor girl from achieving her dreams? That's not what the 6th Hokage would want, now is it?'_

To Konohamaru, the plan was foolproof. They'd head to the river where they always worked on their techniques together, practice for as long as it took for Moegi to master what was on the scroll, return it without anyone noticing, and then be on their merry way. Once that was all done, he would be able to resume working on his own techniques.

He sighed. He really did need to get to work on forming his chakra. The Rasengan took forever to perfect, and Konoha's current Hokage had even struggled learning it. If Konohamaru was going to surpass even him like he hoped, then he'd have to work vigorously, day and night. He winced at the amount of soreness he was going to experience in order to train his body and learn this technique.

_Yikes_, he thought.

Unfortunately, he was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the tear in the branch in front of him before he landed on it. Moegi yelled his name as the branch snapped and he heroically fell with it.

* * *

Konohamaru's fall was stopped by a hand gripping his foot, and found himself staring from above at the ground, but not getting any closer to it.

"For Hell's sake, Konohamaru. How do you ever expect to beat me if you're tripping over your own feet?"

Konohamaru felt his gut lurch as he jerked around and was met with the face of his rival, the Hokage himself, whose amused eyes peered at him from under a gleaming Leaf headband.

And only one thought crossed the little ninja's mind:

_Shit, _he thought. _Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Double Shit._

Naruto hung upside down, chakra holding his feet to the underside of a thick tree branch. His white cloak hung off him, and you could read the words "Sixth Hokage" written on the back in red. His right hand was bandaged up to the middle of his forearm, and his left hand held Konohamaru's ankle.

The Hokage smirked.

In one swift movement, they were on the ground, where he held Konohamaru's ankle up high, like a trophy or a deer carcass he'd just caught in a hunting trap. He put his bandaged hand to his chin and swung Konohamaru around a little in his hand, making his body sway. "Gee, were you always this short?" he asked, unable to suppress a sly smile. "I thought for sure you were tall enough to at least have your hair touch the ground."

Konohamaru whipped around, punching thin air and trying to hit Naruto. "Put-me-down-asshole!"

So, Naruto did as he wished. He dropped him on his head.

Konohamaru hopped up and took a swing at the Hokage, who dodged easily. He tried again. And again. And again.

Naruto was laughing. "This all you got? Yikes."

The Hokage caught a punch and calmly flipped the boy over his shoulder, causing Konohamaru's back to hit the ground. Then, he drew a kunai and held it at his neck. The Hokage cockily raised an eyebrow eyebrow. "So, Konohamaru. You fall off trees often?"

Konohamaru pouted and stuck his tongue out. _How embarrassing. _Even though he was a Chuunin now, he still had trouble with some basic techniques, and apparently that included basic forest navigation and paying attention to detail. Not to mention he'd just gotten his ass kicked by _this_ idiot.

"No. You have stupid whiskers on your face often?"

Naruto smiled. "Touché."

He looked exactly the same as the day he'd been proclaimed Hokage, which had been right after the conclusion of the 4th Shinobi World War. It'd been almost three years since then, and Naruto still had big, blue eyes, whiskered cheeks, tan skin, and blond hair that went everywhere.

Konohamaru thoughts were suddenly drawn back to how bad the situation was. He'd just been caught stealing a slug summoning scroll by the leader of the village.

His palms began to sweat profusely. _I'm gonna die_, he thought. I_'m gonna die and be forever humiliated because this blockhead busted me. I'm gonna die of embarrassment. This is how it ends. How unmanly!_ _And where the heck is Moegi?_

Naruto pulled back the kunai. "Oi," he said. "Get your girlfriend out of the bushes over there, will ya? She's acting weird."

Konohamaru groaned. He looked toward where Moegi had not so subtly concealed herself in a bush and got up, walked over and tugged her out. She had leaves in her hair.

"You call yourself a ninja, yet you can't even hide in a bush?" he scolded.

"Y-you fell off a tree, moron!" she retorted.

The scroll was tight in her hand and she was shaking with fear. Naruto made his way over to where she sat on the ground, tears threatening to flow from her eyes.

_How unmanly_, Konohamaru thought as he stood beside her, arms crossed, looking at her trembling frame. _Don't cry! It's not cool to cry like this, especially in front of...!_

Naruto stood over them, looking intimidatingly tall and holding an expression on his face that looked a lot like the one on the face of the Fourth Hokage carved into the rock back in town. For a second, Konohamaru wondered if Naruto would yell at them. He knew his grandfather, the Third, would've for sure.

"I-I'm sorry, Hokage-sama," Moegi mumbled. She was shaking uncontrollably and trying her best to be as small as possible. "I just...I didn't...I just wanted to-"

She was interrupted by a loud, hearty laugh, as Naruto knelt down in front of her. "Look at you! All scared."

Her faced turned white.

Naruto lightly took her cheek between his thumb and pointer finger, causing her speech to cease and her cheeks to redden. She looked up into his eyes, which held nothing but amusement. "The first thing you should know about me," he said, "is that I'm not someone to be scared of. Heck, I'm about as scary as Konohamaru over here."

He jabbed a thumb in Konohamaru's direction. Konohamaru slapped it away, scowling.

"Idiot," Konohamaru said. "You think just because you're Hokage now that you can crack jokes at my expense?"

"Kinda", he said with a smirk. He looked at the scroll Moegi was holding, who, upon seeing he was looking at it, let go of it quickly, dropping it in the dirt.

"Slug summoning, eh?" he noted as he picked it up and read the inscription on the side. "Good choice, but over the toads? Toads are way cooler!"

Needless to say, Konohamaru was shocked. He had expected that anyone who caught them stealing would be angry with them, _especially_ the leader of the village. But, Naruto was just smiling, using the sleeve of his cloak to wipe the dirt off the scroll. He didn't look angry at all.

Moegi looked at her feet, her red hair drooping in her pigtails and her face still red from Naruto's pinch.

"Moegi," he said softly, "I'm not mad at you, and I think it's great you want to learn." He paused. "But you should probably go and return this. It belongs to the hospital."

The little girl looked away bashfully, causing the Hokage to chuckle. "I know, I know. You want to learn, and I don't blame you. Medical ninjas..." He looked down at his bandaged hand with a small smile, "...they're awesome. But you don't learn by stealing..."

He stood, and gave her a thumbs up.

"...You learn by never giving up."

There was a crack of another tree branch and she flew in from God knows where, landing in a flash, with more speed than Naruto knew she possessed. He barely even saw her. But he knew she was there; no one had hair that color. She appeared standing behind him. He looked down at his hands. The scroll was gone.

"So _this_ is where it was!"

Naruto turned his head and met the sea green eyes of Haruno Sakura, who was tossing the scroll up and down in her hand. She had swiped it from him in an instant.

Konohamaru and Moegi backed up, scuttling like crabs.

Her hair was about four inches past her shoulders, a ponytail holding the top half of her hair up while the bottom strands flew freely. The shining diamond on her forehead reflected the minimal sunlight that showed through the forest canopy. She was wearing a red, short sleeved top, black pants, and black laced up sandals, all underneath a white, stained lab coat. And she did not look amused.

She held up the scroll, mock examining it. "I wonder why this is out here," she said nonchalantly, pointedly glaring at the kids cowering in the brush.

The two squirmed. "S-Sakura..!" Konohamaru stuttered, "I mean, Sakura-sama! W-We didn't mean-"

"Oh, I'm sure you didn't mean to steal my scroll," she said, "I mean, stealing is almost _never _intentional, right?"

Sakura crossed her arms, nonverbally asking for an explanation. To Konohamaru, she didn't look half as intimidating as she'd been described. She was tiny with hair the color of cotton candy, and she didn't look like she was able to crack skulls like the rumors said. She looked more like a village girl who picked flowers rather than someone who could kill you with a punch. He noticed something in her eyes, however, and it was the kind of ferocity that told you not to mess with her, or she'd break you.

Moegi looked at the ground, not making a sound. Konohamaru glanced at her and something in him began to warm. He knew what it felt like to be embarrassed. Heck, he had just catapulted off a tree branch and had been saved by _that _idiot. His grandpa had been the leader of the village and _he_, a member of the generation that was supposed to surpass this one, couldn't even jump through the woods without help. And even though he'd probably get punched by the girl in front of him so hard that his headband would become part of his skull, he realized it wasn't even a choice. He'd take this one.

"It was m-"

"It was my fault, Sakura-chan."

Konohamaru almost swallowed his tongue.

Naruto stood up from the ground, dusting off his knees. Sakura raised an eyebrow.

Naruto sighed. "They came to me yesterday asking if I could get them a scroll from the hospital. I figured since I was the Hokage, I wouldn't need to ask in order to borrow one. So I just...took it. I'm sorry."

Konohamaru gazed at his rival.

_He was lying for them._

Naruto turned around to face her properly. "It's my fault," he said again. "Don't blame these dorks."

Sakura looked at him for a long time. Then, something in her eyes softened. She shook her head. "Well, why didn't you say so?"

Konohamaru blinked. _What the..._

Sakura tossed Moegi the scroll and it landed in her lap. The girl stared at it in shock. "Wha-"

"Moegi," Sakura said with a smile. "If you want to learn slug summoning, all you have to do is ask!"

She hopped forward with finesse and landed in front of Moegi, sitting back on her haunches in order to be level with her. Moegi trembled, but Sakura only smiled.

"Now, I expect you to keep Naruto in line during times like these," she said. "If you know he's stealing from me, don't let him do it."

She looked back at him. "It's wrong, and I'd only hope that the Hokage of our village would know that."

Konohamaru had to forcefully close his mouth. He'd heard so many stories about how this person, the thin, pink haired girl in front of him, could break boulders with her fist and how pissing her off was a death wish. He did _not_ expect this.

_What was with the world today_? he thought.

Sakura looked down at the scroll. "This is my favorite scroll. Did you know that, Moegi?"

Moegi timidly shook her head.

Sakura smiled again and said softly, "It has my favorite red tassel on it. I always like to whip it around when I'm bored in my office."

Konohamaru looked over at Naruto, whose eyes were on Sakura's back.

"I want you to have it," Sakura said, the gentle tone in her voice almost startling to Konohamaru. "Not only do you have to keep an eye on Naruto now, but you have to take care of my scroll, too. Can you do that for me?"

Moegi nodded, suddenly gaining confidence. "Y-yes! Sakura-sama!"

Sakura stood up, patting her on the head. "All right. I wouldn't expect anything less from a future medical prodigy," she said, which caused Moegi to blush. "Now, how about you and Konohamaru run along. You have a lot of training to do! And I expect weekly updates!"

Moegi stood up and obediently. "Y-yes!"

She grabbed Konohamaru, who was still trying to wrap his head around what had just happened, and pulled him through the brush and toward the river.

* * *

Sakura stared for a moment at the spot through which the two Chuunin had disappeared. Then, she slowly turned around, her eyes resting on Naruto, who was leaning against a tree trunk and staring at something in the distance, arms crossed. He must have felt her eyes on him, because he glanced over at her, smiling slightly. "You're pretty good with kids, Sakura-chan," he said.

Sakura shrugged. "Eh...not really. They were cowering in fear until you came up with that lie."

"Ah...you figured me out, huh?"

She crossed her arms, smirking. "Saying I 'figured you out' implies it was difficult. It wasn't. You may be the big shot Hokage now, but I can still read you like a book."

Naruto scoffed and then looked at the ground, smiling. "You've always been able to do that pretty well, haven't you?"

Sakura just chuckled.

The two stood there for a moment, wind weaving between them. Naruto took in the girl in front of him. Same hair, same eyes, same outfit. Same smile. Despite it being years later, she still looked the same as she had when he had first met her, when they were children.

Except, to him, she was possibly even more beautiful now.

"Well, Hokage-sama," she said softly, "I'd better get going back to the hospital."

Naruto kept his eyes on her face. "You don't have to call me that, Sakura-chan."

She grinned and met his eyes. She held up her hand and saluted. Then, in an instant, she was gone as quickly as she had come.

Naruto remained there for a minute, leaning back against the tree and breathing in the scent of pine that blew around the forest. Then, he shook his head, trying his best to rid the boyish grin from his face.


	2. Chapter 2

**I see you have decided to read on! Thank you for doing so! I hope that my first chapter was worth your time.**

**Like I said, this story takes on the perspectives of multiple characters. I felt like more characters than just Naruto and Sakura needed to be in this, and I didn't want to leave out Sasuke and Team Taka.**

**A quick warning about this: out of all the characters in Naruto, the ones who I probably think about least are Sasuke and Team Taka. I like them as characters, but I don't know every single one of their techniques by name and I don't know, I guess, **_**exactly how they would act in every given situation ever to unfold.**_** So I hope that this chapter, at least for starters, isn't completely horrible in regards to Sasuke and Team Taka. This is just always how I've interpreted their interactions. Thanks! Please let me know what you think!**

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Chapter 2

Karin hastily removed her glasses, breathed on the lenses, and rubbed them against her cloak. She spit her wet hair out of her mouth and glanced down at the town. She was elevated above it, perched on a roof a good ten meters taller than any of the surrounding buildings. The rain was cold on her face, but she was used to it. They'd been living here for a while now.

_Where did that idiot go? _she thought.

But, she realized that was a stupid question. Whenever Sasuke didn't want to be found, he'd make it so it was physically impossible to track him. He'd been gone when she'd awoken this morning. She didn't know why, but she was always the first one up, but she'd always get up just a few minutes before he did, as if there was a timer set inside her which made her wake mere moments before he would. She'd watch his closed eyes, his rising and falling chest, his midnight hair draped over his face, and his twitching fingers. Then, he'd open his eyes, which were as expressionless as always, and proceed to get up without a good morning.

He hadn't been there when she'd woken up today. She'd gotten nervous.

"_Karin. I'm sure he's fine," _Juugo had told her. "_Don't you know who we're dealing with?_" Of course she'd nodded, but her gesture of affirmation hadn't matched her true feelings. Karin trusted no one more than Sasuke when it came to survival, but she still couldn't quench her worry.

Karin got down into a squat position. She began to use her sensory perception again, but to no avail. She sighed and looked up at the sky. As usual, there hovered nothing but dark gray clouds, from which rain seemed to eternally fall like tears. Karin shook her dripping head. _Why did he have to pick the Village Hidden in the Rain, of all places?_

The search would have been easier if they weren't in one of the quietest places for miles. Despite the rough machinery that made up every building and the rain that should be hammering on the rooftops, there existed absolute silence in the Village Hidden in the Rain. There were hardly ever people roaming about. There were no animals that would make noise and no trees whose leaves would rustle. All there was to be heard was the dreary tone of nothing.

Karin guessed that was why Sasuke picked it as their new home. The man never made noise, so why should there be any around where he lived?

But he did talk once and a while. Rarely, to her. On the rare occasion they were alone, she could get him to speak. It may be just a few syllables and an occasional grunt, but she was the only one that could get him to react. She didn't like to tell anyone, but she was secretly proud of that fact. The man that no one could move, could be moved by her.

Karin shook her head. She needed to stop thinking about that. Right now the primary focus was finding him. She stood up and leapt across a few rooftops, landing at the base of the abandoned Ryeki Watchtower. She looked the structure up and down and wondered why Sasuke hadn't picked this grand building as their residence. It had large windows, a nice, cylindrical, metal, protective exterior, and a gigantic light at the top that could be electrically programmed to run for days. In one large jump, she was on the roof, squatting and trying to sense his presence. Nothing.

Karin sighed. She looked out over the town again, as if something had changed in the last minute even though she knew nothing had moved. She hoped to see his brooding figure appear among the mechanized buildings, but, all she saw were rows and columns of metal house husks scattered like dominoes in a dusty attic. The only building that stood out was their tower. The one Sasuke had said would protect them. The one that would allow them to dwell and become strong. Their home.

Karin wiped the rain off her face.

Pain's tower stood at the rear of the town, looming like a skyscraper over the many smaller structures that surrounded its base. It was a few miles away, but she could see it, plain as day. The big window where Sasuke often sat with his hands folded and pressed against his mouth held Karin's gaze like an eye. It was large and glassless like a giant cave. With her sensory perception, she could almost make out the insides of what they called their "home" through the opening: The one chair. The laid out mats and the bowl of water. The supply of weapons stashed in the back corner. The forbidden scrolls stored neatly underneath their lone, pointless rug.

The man in the window.

Karin blinked and he was gone. She stepped back in shock, almost slipping off the roof.

He'd been there. Sasuke.

Something in her vision shifted and then there was nothing in the window. Karin blanked. _Hadn't he_…?

But all she saw was the open mouth of the cave that was Sasuke's window. He wasn't standing there like she'd seen, like she'd hoped. The man she'd seen, a figment of her imagination, wasn't even there. He was gone. There was nothing in the window.

Karin shook her head. She was seeing things, surely. Imagining and wanting would only get her so far. She needed to find him, and _soon_.

There was an abruptly loud sound of a wave splashing on a beach behind her, and in a second, Suigetsu had materialized on the roof of the watchtower. She heard him splutter.

"What the hell are you doing standing around?" he accused. "I'd assume you of all people would be looking frantically for him."

Karin glanced once more at the window. Then, she looked to the side. "Hmph. Isn't it obvious, Suigetsu? He doesn't want to be found. Otherwise, I'd have found him by now."

Suigetsu scoffed. "You trust your sensory abilities that much? You didn't even sense me coming and I'm the loudest thing in this shithole town."

Karin rolled her eyes. "And the most annoying."

Suigetsu tutsed. "Yo. If we weren't on the same side, you'd be dead right now."

Karin responded with a huff.

Suigetsu paused, his shark toothed mouth formed into a frown. "So...we wait it out I guess, huh?" he asked.

Karin sat down and removed the ponytail securing her braid. She'd recently started wearing her hair like that, hoping that maybe Sasuke would notice the difference.

"It seems like that's our only option," she said.

She shook out her wet head like a dog and began to re-braid her hair. She felt Suigetsu sit down next to her, giant sword in hand. He laid back on the roof and stretched out.

"Right," Suigetsu said. "Wait it out."

The rain continued to pour. Karin took one last glance over her shoulder at the window of Pain's tower.

"Wait it out," she repeated.


	3. Chapter 3

**This chapter has been my favorite one I've written so far. Sakura is one of my favorite characters, and as much as she gets hated on, I feel like she is incredibly misunderstood. In this chapter, I've tried to highlight how I feel her relationship with Naruto was meant to be interpreted in the manga. **

**Please enjoy and comment! I love feedback!**

* * *

Chapter 3

A steady breeze blew through the open window into the room, but Tsunade barely noticed. The wind chimes suspended above her porch clinked lightly and the curtains danced. The room smelled like the dew on the grass. Tsunade's hand gripped the handle of a mirror, and her eyes focused on the face sullenly staring back at her. She sat, slumped at a small table in the middle of her kitchen. Her apartment was small, but she was getting older. She didn't really need much.

Her eyes roved over her features, and she made no effort to criticize them. She'd looked the same for years. Her hair wasn't gray and falling out, but blonde and flawless. Her body, still robust, strong, and the object of many men's fantasies, wasn't sagging like it should have been. Her Byakugou seal still glowed a luminescent violet, not having dimmed in the slightest. Her skin wasn't pale and leathery. Her eyes still resembled the color of fountain pennies. She looked like she was thirty years old. She always did.

But today, she felt ancient.

"Tsunade-sama."

The old woman turned to see her student, who had suddenly appeared perched like squirrel on the windowsill, with a large sack slung over her shoulder. Tsunade's lips quirked upwards in a smile. "Sakura."

Sakura grinned back warmly, her hand gripping the top of the window as she swung into the room. She landed soundlessly on the floor. Then, she eyed her mentor holding a mirror, laughing a bit. "Looking in the mirror again, I see."

Tsunade continued to stare at the mirror. Sakura crossed her arms. "Shishou," she said, smiling slightly, "you're beautiful. No matter how many times you look in the mirror, that's not going to change."

Tsunade frowned. "Don't flatter me. My appearance doesn't age, you know that."

Sakura plopped the bag onto the countertop by the oven. "Who said I was talking about physical appearance?"

She ripped open the bag, revealing a bunch of ripe, red apples. She pulled one out and inspected it. "I got these apples for you. They were selling them for cheap, so I got a bunch. I decided I'd make you a pie with them," she said lightheartedly. Then she pouted. "But some of them are so bruised, I'm beginning to doubt if even _my_ amazing baking can make them work."

Tsunade turned in her chair. "You don't have to make me a pie."

Sakura smirked. "Please. I took half of them home, but there were so many left over, I decided I'd do a good deed for once." She glanced back at her mentor. "So, please, let me."

Tsunade looked from the mirror and raised a finger. "No pie. I'm trying to keep up my sexy appearance, remember?"

Sakura laughed, which caused Tsunade to laugh as well. "Well, fine!" Sakura said, "I'll just have people bid on one at the Fireworks. My pie will be a hit."

"Oh wow. I forgot that the Fireworks are in a few days," Tsunade said. "Are you going to ask anyone this year?"

"Well, if you count my date with my med-textbooks, then I guess I am."

"I don't blame you. They are incredibly boring. The Fireworks, I mean. The textbooks are flawless."

"True."

Sakura whipped out a kunai and began to remove bruises from the apples. Tsunade watched as Sakura peeled the skin and deposited the remnants into a neat pile on the counter top.

"How was the hospital today?"

Sakura lifted a shoulder. "Nothing too out of the ordinary," she said. "I wrapped up a couple legs, gave some medicine to some people, and took a few pints of blood from volunteers to save for diffusion."

Tsunade rested her elbow on the table. "Did you help Mr. Hirunoka with his big heart scare?"

Sakura glanced up from her apples, eyes wide. "How'd you know about that?"

A laugh bursted from Tsunade. "Well," she started, "last night he came to my door, did I tell you that? He asked me to help him right here, right then. He was yelling and jumping around, and his face was as red as those apples. He was a real treat. And I told him I didn't work at the hospital anymore. I told him to go see you. But he didn't listen, just kept yelling and pulling his hair out. And I thought, 'what disrespect! And to a previous Hokage! He has some nerve.' So you know what I did?"

Sakura raised her eyebrows. "Do I want to know?"

"I socked him one."

Sakura stopped. "You…you punched a man with a heart condition?!" she exclaimed.

Tsunade waved it away. "It wasn't even a big deal. If it were something severe, which I knew it wasn't, it would've killed him on the spot. He was just being a baby."

Sakura was appalled, but that didn't stop her from smiling. "Well, I'll admit, he wasn't very nice to me today either."

Tsunade huffed. "Serves him right then, eh?"

Sakura nodded with a smile. Her eyes passed over the apples as she rolled them around in her hands, searching for any error in them. "Shishou, do you miss it?"

The old woman gazed intently into the mirror again. She picked at her eyebrow, where a few hairs were falling out of place. "Yes," she looked up. "But it's yours now. I entrusted it to you and Shizune."

Sakura picked up the biggest apple and began to cut it. "But it wouldn't kill you to come back once and a while, would it?" she asked softly.

Tsunade smiled at her reflection. "Sakura, I'm old. And while I was strong for my time, I'm forced to accept that the times have changed. The new era has taken over. I'm meant to move to the side where I can grow old in peace while your generation takes up the reins. You know that."

Sakura winced, almost cutting her finger. "I guess you're right," she said, bringing the spot of her finger she almost cut to her lips. "We're getting new recruits too, so there'll be more people to join. Unfortunately, that means more work for me to do."

"Well you have yourself to thank for that. Medical ninjutsu has become pretty popular ever since you pulled that stunt with Katsuyu during the war. Not to mention annihilating parts of the Juubi with the Strength of a Hundred. People heard about that and wanted to join. You should be flattered, really."

Sakura picked up a skin and put it in her mouth. "I am! I am flattered," she said through chews.

"You really were spectacular."

The girl smiled gratefully at her mentor. Then, she remembered. "Did I tell you that Moegi wants to be a medical ninja?"

Tsunade gasped. "Little Moegi? The one the Third's grandson always prances around with?"

Sakura nodded. "I caught the two in the woods the other day with my scroll. You know, the one with the red tassel? She was trying to teach herself how to slug summon. And she cried because she thought I was going to hurt her if I found her with it. Can you believe that?"

The old woman began trying to reposition her hair. "Kind of," she stated. "Sakura, one thing you've both gotten from me and gained through your experiences is the ability to scare the shit out of people. It's a gift, you know."

"But, a little girl?" Sakura exclaimed, fingers tensing up over the apple in her hands. "I'd never touch a little girl! How could she think that?"

Suddenly, the apple self destructed in her hand and its remnants began to drip through her fingers onto the counter. Sakura jumped, in awe at her own half hearted strength. Her hand was covered in apple mush.

Tsunade started laughing. Sakura pouted and grabbed a towel, wiping her hand off. "Not funny," she said, starting to smile.

The old woman set down the mirror. She didn't feel so tired anymore, thanks to Sakura's antics. "Well, I'm very happy Moegi wants to join," the old woman said with a grin. "I love seeing children look up to people like us. We medics are normally underappreciated as ninjas, so it's nice to see."

Sakura nodded with a smile. "It's just so great, y'know? I mean, I never thought there'd be someone out there who'd ever...I don't know...want to be like me. It just...it makes you feel special. And like everything's right."

Tsunade watched her student, who smiled happily down at her apples. Her light hair rippled in the warm breeze and a caressed her face in a shiny, pink arc. Her eyes looked incredibly large and little girlish. Her pale hands were articulately at work with the round, rosy fruit.

"Have I told you how pretty you've gotten, Sakura?"

Sakura glanced upwards and arched an eyebrow. Then, she laughed. "Thank you, Shishou." She smiled. "I appreciate the compliment, especially from you."

"You're getting to that age where young men are going to start courting you. Be ready for a lot of offers."

Sakura looked quizzically at her mentor. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, I mean, look at you." Tsunade said, waving her hand in Sakura's direction. "You're one of the strongest young women in the village. That intimidates some men, but anyone worth anything would realize the value in that. Not to mention you've become prettier and a lot more womanly. And, you have a kind heart. People will be sure to court you."

Sakura shook her head and smiled down at her apples. "Whatever."

"You know, a lot of people think Naruto still likes you," the old woman said, raising a flawless eyebrow.

The kunai hit the table after that comment. Sakura stared in shock at her unsteady grip, then whipped her head to Tsunade. "I…" She bashfully cast her eyes downwards, "People are still on that? That was a couple years ago."

Tsunade chuckled. "Yet his affections haven't ceased."

"Shishou! That's completely untrue!" Sakura said, exasperated yet hesitant. "He's...he's over that by now. He's Hokage and he has bigger things to worry about than what I'm doing. Besides, he's gotten so much female attention lately, he'd have easily started liking someone else by now."

Tsunade glanced and up at her student.

"Probably Hinata by this point. She's gotten really gorgeous. And a lot more independent," Sakura continued, still looking at the kunai but refusing to pick it up.

"Sakura-" Tsunade started.

Sakura cut her off. "Oh, here we go. You're about to compare him to Jiraiya again, aren't you?"

Tsunade looked at her student. Sakura's demeanor had changed from that of a happy, light hearted child to that of a hormonal teenager at the mere mention of a young man's name. She raised her hand as a barrier. "We've talked about this, Sakura. I'm old, and while I've lived a good life, I have some regrets." She sighed. "And not giving Jiraiya a chance when I could've is one of them. I only say this so you don't make the same mistake."

Sakura picked up the kunai, glaring at it. "Shishou, this isn't the same situation. I'm not you, and he's not Jiraiya. You and that man...you guys were both stellar. You'd been friends all your lives," she set the weapon on the table. "You guys kind of...no offense to Dan, but you guys deserved each other."

Tsunade took in the girl in front of her, who was leaning against the table, seemingly keeping herself from falling through it. She kept her eyes on something over her mentor's head and said, "Naruto deserves someone better. He always has."

Tsunade didn't see any self pity in her student's green eyes. She'd said it so matter-a-factly, Tsunade wondered if there was any emotion at all. There was no pain. No sadness. Not even a little doubt in her words. Then, she saw an emotion she hadn't seen in a long time, the last time being when she'd looked in the mirror before leaving for Jiraiya's funeral. She saw complete emptiness. It was in that moment that Tsunade saw that her student had become just like her.

The girl moved her eyes back to Tsunade's. "I may not even get married," she noted, and then, realizing it was the correct moment to do so, put on a smile. "Imagine the money I'll save on stamps."

Tsunade said nothing. She merely watched her student set all the cut apples in a line and reach into the cupboards for a bowl. After finding one, she used her forearm to cup all of the apples and slide them into it. She set the bowl on the table. "I'll be back later to grab these," she said, gesturing to the bowl, " I have to head to the post office and then go pick up some groceries. My mom wants to have duck tonight and I promised I'd help."

"Sakura, how can you think you're not worthy of good things?"

Tsunade asked the question simply and abruptly. There was a short silence for a moment with only the sound of the windchime bouncing around the room. Tsunade didn't expect the response that came after.

Sakura looked her mentor in the eyes. "It's not that I'm not worthy of good things. It's that he's worthy of great ones."

The girl picked up the empty sack that used to hold apples and hopped up onto the window ledge, looking out at the trees. The breeze blew her hair back and she closed her eyes. The windchime tinkled like a sleigh bell. Tsunade watched her linger there. Sakura looked to the woods. Then she smiled. "See ya, Tsunade-sama."

Then she was gone as if the wind had taken her away.

Tsunade heaved a great sigh, got up, and set her mirror in her cabinet. She had seen far too much of herself that afternoon.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for reading this far! It makes me happy that you have decided to give my story a chance!**

**Two characters I also wanted to focus on were Ino and Hinata, two characters who I absolutely adore. Especially with Hinata in this story, I wanted to give her an avenue to become the character I thought she never became in the actual series: A strong, independent female who didn't need to pine after a man in every panel. This chapter is the first step in that direction for her. **

**I also felt that Hinata's friendships were never really touched on in the series, so I kind of just wanted to do something with that. :P**

**Please enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 4

There was no way other way to say it. Ino was pissed.

Her hair hit someone in the face as she determinedly pushed through the crowd. She stepped on a guy's foot, and he winced. She didn't notice nor care.

_What in the hell_? she thought.

She shoved aside a man who was walking too slow.

"Move, why don't you?" she hissed.

"Bitch," he said back.

"_What _did you call me!?"

But the man had become lost in the bustling crowd. Ino scowled in frustration. _This could not_, she thought, _be any more annoying_.

It took her a minute, but she eventually navigated her way out of the crowd. Despite how much she loved the Fireworks, the crowds in town the days before were intoxicatingly large. She inhaled a lungful of air and exhaled. She needed to find Sakura. _Now_.

Down the street, she could see the light of Ichiraku's as it shined like a beacon against the dark sky. Other areas were strung up with pink, green, and orange lights in preparation for the big day. But Ichiraku's didn't have those. It lit up the night all by itself.

Looking at the ramen bar made Ino hungry. She didn't normally like to eat ramen because it was extremely unhealthy. Yet, it wouldn't kill her to indulge herself once and a while, especially in this situation.

Ino sighed and stalked toward the ramen bar. _This. Freaking. Situation._

She slumped into the far left seat of the bar and slapped a few bills on the table. "Gimme the best ya got, Ichi."

The old man smiled underneath his white and red hat. "No problem, Yamanaka-san."

Ino glanced about the ramen bar. There was no one but her there tonight. She blinked. No, wait. There was someone.

"Hinata?"

Without a second glance, Ino would have hardly noticed she was there. The girl lifted her pale face and revealed her startling lavender eyes.

"Ah, Ino-san!"

Hinata immediately stood up and rushed over to hug her. Then she gasped. "Ino-san, did you know that you have a vein sticking out of your forehead? Also, your heart is racing and your hands are shaking."

Ino frowned. "Ya. I know."

She turned away and pouted, causing the vein to stick out farther. Hinata slid over into the seat next to Ino, who noticed that the girl hadn't ordered anything. "Is something wrong?" Hinata asked.

Ino winced at the question. _Of course something is wrong, you idiot_, she thought. But, given that it was Hinata, there's no way Ino could say that out loud. Instead she forced a small chuckle. "Eh."

Hinata's big eyes looked at her intently. "What is it?"

Ino huffed again. She had forgotten that this was what Hinata was like now. Ever since the end of the war a few years ago, Hinata had been acting more and more confident. She'd changed her whole wardrobe, suddenly seeming to realize that she, in fact, had a stupendous bust and wide hips. She wasn't slutty, but she ditched the hoodies and bulky pants for clothes that better accentuated her figure. She also was wearing her hair up more. This wasn't a bad thing. In fact, it was good for her. She'd needed it for years. But, with Hinata being more confident in herself, she also talked a lot more. And right now, Ino did not want to talk.

"It's not really a big deal," she said. "I'm fine."

But, Hinata didn't listen. She widened her gaze and veins popped out on the outsides of each of her eyes. For a minute, she seemed to see into Ino's soul. Then, the veins receded and her eyes returned to normal. Hinata cocked her head. "You're having...man troubles?"

This was another annoying thing came with Hinata's confidence boost. Not only was she changing her wardrobe and her daily word utterance, but she also was using her Byakugan a lot more.

Ino turned her head. "Um.."

Hinata smiled sadly. "I know that's what this is," she said. "With my eyes, I can see your heart beating and your lungs expanding and contracting. Your heart rate and breathing patterns only get like this when it's about a man. I've noticed this over time."

"That's creepy as hell, Hinata."

The dark haired girl raised her eyebrows. "Really? Well, I just figured that, in this case, you needed someone to talk to." She shook her head, genuinely ashamed. "Sorry for intruding."

Ino chuckled. She felt herself cool down a little. _It's not a big deal_, she thought, _I guess I can tell Hinata. But then, I've gotta get out of here and kick Sakura's ass for not being around. Where the hell is she?_

She sighed and rested her elbow on the table, gently running her fingers through her long, blond bangs. "Hinata, I always thought I would've grown out of this kind of thing. But, I don't think I have. Please don't judge me, okay?"

Hinata nodded silently.

Ino then reached into the back pocket of her shorts, and pulled out a white slip of paper. She slid it over. "Read this."

Hinata took the paper. Ino put her hands over her eyes in exasperation.

"210,577 yen!?"

The blonde nodded sheepishly. Then, she groaned. "This is how much I've spent on shopping in the last two weeks. The last _two weeks_. I could've bought Shikamaru a new office with this."

"He could use that," Hinata noted, looking thoroughly perplexed. "Why would you ever need to spend that much?"

Ino wanted to whack some sense into her for not understanding, but she also was too humiliated by the number on the bank slip that ,she didn't think she had any right. Instead, she sighed. "There was this kimono I saw in one of the shop windows. It was aqua with silver flowers and coral accents and it looked so gorgeous...I just had to buy it. This was in June."

Hinata's eyes widened. "This June...like eleven months ago?"

"No, the other June... of course, the June eleven months ago."

"Sorry, Ino-san, I'm just trying to keep track."

"It's alright."

"Continue. Sorry."

"It's okay, quit apologizing! Anyway, I bought the kimono. I stored it in my closet for, like, eleven months. I went to try it on today and, wouldn't you know it? It was freaking ripped!"

She slammed her hand onto the table in a rage. Hinata looked horrified. "Ripped? Ripped how?"

"How should I know?" Ino hissed. "I left it there for _eleven months_. For all I know, demon moths could've eaten at it. Point is, it's ruined. Torn right down the middle."

Hinata put her hand to her mouth, taking up a thinking pose. "Maybe we could fix it. Do you know how to sew?"

Ino shook her head. "I've been trying to find Sakura, but she wasn't at her house. She knows how."

The raven haired girl nodded. Then, she stopped. "Wait...if you only bought that kimono, then why was that receipt so...ungodly high?" she asked.

"I kept...buying stuff," Ino said. "Not in June, but in the more recent months. Like this outfit?" She gestured to her current outfit. It was a purple top and purple short shorts, laced tights, and tall black boots. "This outfit was...well...way too expensive."

"It looks pretty though."

"Yeah well, it hasn't really...had it's intended effect yet."

Hinata nodded, but didn't seem to be following.

Ino continued. "I bought all this for a reason. Yeah, it's fun to wear, but there's another reason."

No response. Ino went on, slowly.

"Because, you know, I wanted to get asked to the Fireworks. By someone."

Hinata's eyebrows shot up and her face began to pale. "Who-"

"Not Naruto, don't worry," Ino interrupted, waving her hand.

The girl exhaled and attempted to regain her composure, even though her face had a lingering crimson. "T-then who?" she asked quickly.

Ino slapped her hand over her eyes again, except she covered her whole face this time. You could still see the redness creeping down her neck. She paused. Then, quietly,

"Chouji."

Hinata gasped, and Ichiraku chose this moment to bring Ino's order of ramen to her. He set it down, looking at Ino with a concerned glance. She still had her hand covering her whole face. He looked to Hinata. "Is she.."

"Sh-she's fine. Thank you, Ichiraku-san."

The cook made his way back to the kitchen. Hinata grabbed Ino's forearm, the one not holding her hand over her face.

"Ino-san! This is great!" Hinata whispered excitedly. "I'm so happy for you!"

The blonde shook her arm out of Hinata's grip and pried her hand from her face. "How!?" she said, her voice a little too high pitched. "Did you not see my receipt?"

Hinata started laughing. "Ino-san," she said between giggles, "You like him, and he's a great person. I really hope for the best for you, truly."

Ino looked down. Then, her face pinked. Then, reddened.

"I...I don't even know how to deal with it," she said. "I never thought it'd be him. He's not a hunk. He's not the most skilled ninja. But he's so genuinely sweet and caring. Enough to make me..do this."

She pointed to her tomato-red face.

Hinata glanced into Ino's ramen, thinking. Then she looked up. "Trust me, Ino-san, I know how you feel."

Ino felt the redness in her face dissipate. Hinata's eyes looked to the ramen, but Ino didn't think she was really seeing it. She decided to capitalize on the opportunity to change the subject.

"You still really like Naruto, huh." she said.

The dark haired girl's eyes didn't move from the ramen.

Ino turned in her seat. "Have you ever thought about moving on?"

Hinata moved her eyes to the wood of the table.

Ino paused. Then, she picked up her chopsticks and positioned them in her fingers. "I mean, Naruto's great. He's funny. Brave. Hot, even. But, like-" she paused to slurp some of her ramen into her mouth. "-what's keeping you around? You've liked him for years and he's only ever really liked one girl. And...well, I don't think that's going away soon."

Hinata leaned on her hand. "It's not."

Ino continued to eat. "I just..I think you're not yourself around him. I mean, whenever someone talks about him, you turn into a shrink. That's not who you are anymore. You're confident, smart, kind, and indepe-oh shit!" she exclaimed, "I forgot to give thanks!"

"Itadakimasu," Hinata said glumly.

"Thanks."

"Yup."

Ino slurped up more noodles. "Point is," she said, "you don't deserve the heartache that comes with pining for a guy who won't feel the same way. And trust me, I know how that feels. Twelve year old Ino's obsession with Sasuke-kun, anyone? Talk about shallow."

For a second, Hinata perked up. "Does Sakura-san still like him?"

"That asshole? Hell no. Not anymore, Thank Kami-sama."

Hinata looked down again. Ino scraped the bowl and looked up, mouth full. Hinata wasn't Ino's best friend by any means, but she didn't like seeing her so sad. Especially since she'd just helped her with her problem**. **She wanted to put her hands on Hinata's shoulders and tell her that everything would be all right. She wanted to tell her that Naruto was smitten with someone else, and that Hinata deserved someone who felt that way about her and her only. She wanted to make the girl smile.

There was the awkward sound of a bowl sliding across wood as the bowl was put in front of Hinata. Then, Ino tossed her chopsticks over. Hinata looked up, startled. "Wha-"

Ino smirked. "Eat up, kiddo. What are you thinking, coming to Ichiraku's and expecting not to eat some ramen? Gimme a break."

Hinata's face softened as she picked up the chopsticks. She twirled them in the broth and then took a bite, smiling softly. "It's good."

"Heck yeah, it is. It's Ichiraku's."

Ino stood up and saluted to the chef. Then, she stretched. "Well, I'd better get going. I gotta go find Sakura and kick her ass. Seriously, who goes missing when they're needed for something?"

Hinata smiled into the ramen. "Bye, Ino-san. Thanks for everything."

Ino turned to leave, and then, looking over her shoulder, said, "Same to you."

Then, she walked away, ponytail swinging, leaving Hinata with a bowl of ramen and a head full of thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5

**This chapter was the hardest for me to write as of yet, and for three reasons. 1) It's about Kakashi, who is a hard character for me to capture, 2) It's my first battle chapter, which is also hard for me to capture, and 3) it's the first kind of serious chapter.**

**Yikes, I really don't know what people are going to think of this, but this is the way the story is going. I hope you guys kind of like it! :P**

* * *

Chapter 5

The wind was whistling and the leaves were tossing themselves across a wide pathway that wound through the woods. The trees alongside the path were tall and wide, and the water to the left rushed and slapped against the bank. It was the typical layout of the scenery surrounding the path that led to Konoha. But Kakashi didn't notice any of it. He never appreciated nature as much as everyone else, especially when he could curl up with _Icha Icha Paradise _instead.

Kakashi sat, perched up in a tree like a canary, flipping through pages of the pink book. Then, he chuckled at a line. _That Jiraiya, _he thought.

He glanced up at the sun, checking its position. Then, he sighed. He still had a good hour of entrance duty left. No one in Konoha, including Kakashi, liked entrance duty or took it seriously. All you were told to do was to stand at the entrance and greet everyone who came into the village. Yeah, you were supposed to watch for suspicious people entering, but ever since Naruto had become the hero in the war a few years ago, there were hardly any. Not to mention that, since the Fireworks were tomorrow, everyone was busy setting up, so no one was entering.

Entrance duty wasn't hard, but Kakashi decided to make it even easier. Instead of roasting in the sun and standing all day, he took refuge at the top of one of the trees alongside the path. Up there, he sat in the shade with his book, leaving a clone of himself to stand at the entrance. It wasn't exactly what you were supposed to do, but Kakashi couldn't resist. He loved the look people gave when they heard his soft "Konichiwa" coming from a tree as they walked by, and then the second look they gave him when they saw the same guy at the entrance. He figured that having a few laughs made it easier to get through the shift.

And it was even easier today. There was a breeze, so it wasn't that hot, and there were hardly any people coming into the town. Kakashi crossed his legs and buried his face further into his book.

_W__hy even bother_? he thought.

* * *

Iruka, who'd been positioned near the entrance, walked past Kakashi's clone and stopped. He smiled, causing the mark across his face to curve upwards at the ends.

"Kakashi," he said with mock annoyance, "shouldn't you yourself be guarding the entrance? Not some measly clone?"

He sent the clone a swift death blow to the temple. It disappeared with a pop. A few seconds later, another clone popped up in the same spot.

"Hey," Kakashi's clone said with a grin, "that hurt."

Iruka laughed. "Well, as long as you keep your post secure, I guess no one will have to know."

"Just as long as you don't tell Gai, I'm sure I'll be fine. He'll do anything to get me in trouble," Kakashi said.

"True."

Iruka saluted and made his way back to his post. The clone saluted back.

* * *

For the next forty five minutes, everything was the same as it always was. Kakashi's nose was deep in his book, the wind continued to blow, the leaves continued to scatter, the path stayed barren, and the entrance to Konoha, which was about a mile to the right, remained untouched. Everything was normal. Everything was as boring as it was every day.

That is, until the wind stopped.

At that moment, Kakashi looked up. He watched the leaves settle to the ground, no longer having anything to propel them. His ears perked up and his eyes roved around the woodsy area, glancing quickly over the path, trees, and the water in the distance. His heart began to beat a little faster.

He wished for a second that he still had his Sharingan. In this situation, he'd will his eye to redden and develop the trademark Uchiha iris. His vision would improve and he'd be able to immediately detect the source of the disturbance. But, he'd lost that in the war. So, Kakashi channeled his chakra to his eyes. With that, his vision improved, and he began to see the minute details of his surroundings. Including the figure he hadn't noticed before, slowly stalking down the path.

The silver haired ninja squinted. _Wait a second..._

He catapulted off the tree like a frog off a log, landing on the path a good one hundred feet from his post, and about twenty feet from the walking figure. At this, the figure stopped. Kakashi raised his eyebrows. He'd thought his eyes had fooled him, but his vision couldn't have been clearer. He'd seen what he'd thought he'd seen.

The black cloak with red clouds. A straw, circular hat with beads hanging from the end.

Akatsuki.

Kakashi exhaled. His first thought: _Aren't they all dead?_

His heart sped up. No one from Konoha had heard from Akatsuki ever since their last member and Kakashi's childhood friend, Obito, had been killed in the Fourth Shinobi World War. That was three years ago. In that time, the organization had dropped off the map, no longer emerging as a threat against any of the villages. That outfit hadn't been sighted in almost four years. Kakashi mentally sped through a checklist of the members, all of whom were deceased. All except Hidan, who Shikamaru had taken care of.

Kakashi then took in the figure in front of him. The build in front of him wasn't similar to any of the original members. This person, definitely a male, was tall and large, with the cloak covering up most of their body and the straw hat obscuring their face. The legs were strongly built. He was too tall to be Itachi or any of the shorter members, yet too small to be Kakuzu or Kisame. Kakashi figured there was also no way for this to be the result of Edo Tensei. All known casters of the jutsu were dead now.

_Given all that, _Kakashi thought, eyes on the mysterious person in front of him. _W__ho is this?_

"Interesting cloak," he said, still in a crouch.

The figure gave no verbal response. Instead, he yanked out of his sleeve a five foot long katana.

Kakashi stuck his hand into his pouch, fingering a kunai. He also noticed that this person had no fingernails or toenails.

_Odd_, he noted.

He also noticed that the man's back was very hunched and boxlike, as if he was wearing a small backpack underneath the cloak.

_Also odd._

"I'd burn that cloak if I were you," Kakashi said, standing up and drawing his blade. "You may draw unwanted attention to yourself."

The figure, again, gave no response.

"In these parts," he continued, slowly walking toward the figure, "we don't allow trespassing. Especially, for those who sport _that_ uniform."

Kakashi kept walking until he was about ten feet from the man. Then, he took up a defensive stance.

"Unless you state your business, I'm going to have to assume the worst."

The man, yet again, made no sudden moves.

"_State _your _business_."

Nothing.

Kakashi mentally cursed. _Stubborn, _he thought.

For what felt like hours, they stood at a standstill. Then, in a second, the man was inches from Kakashi, their blades meeting in slow motion with a _clang!_ Dust rose around them like a whirlwind as their blades met again.

_Strong_, Kakashi thought.

* * *

Kakashi's clone turned. "Iruka!" it yelled.

Iruka was over in a second.

"There's a suspicious man wearing an Akatsuki cloak. I've cut him off, but I believe he's targeting the village," he said urgently.

Iruka's eyes widened. "W-what? Akatsuki? I thought they all were-"

"I need you to guard the entrance and alert the others who're guarding the borders! This could be a distraction! Something else could be trying to enter. Something worse."

"But-"

"Please!"

The clone dissipated.

* * *

Kakashi hopped back, as did the cloaked man. There was no time to analyze the movements of the enemy, because before Kakashi knew it, blood spilled from a cut on his forearm. He winced. _When had he…?_

The man rushed him again, erratically swiping the five foot long katana at Kakashi's head. Kakashi ducked, another cut forming across his chest. He moved back. _It seems_, Kakashi thought quickly,_ that where he slashes and where it cuts aren't the same location._

He put his hand to his bleeding torso.

_Shit. _

Digging his fingers into the ground, Kakashi bounded forward and swept his body around, meeting the man's abdomen with a kick. The man stopped it with the katana, and jabbed its tip towards Kakashi's shoulder. Blood exploded from a sudden, red hole in Kakashi's hip. Then, the katana was swung across Kakashi's neck, creating a large cut across his ear and forehead. Kakashi stumbled to his knees and pressed his hand to his head.

_What...what is this technique!? _

The swordsman slashed downwards, but it was intercepted by Kakashi's kunai. Blood splashed from his right shoulder as if the sword had cut him there.

Kakashi dropped. He couldn't believe it. What was happening?

The man stood over Kakashi's bloody form. The face beneath the hat was still shrouded in blackness. Then, he sent a kick to the fallen ninja's groin, causing tremendous pain to shoot through Kakashi. He stepped to the left, and began to walk past him, down the path, toward the village.

For a moment, there was silence except for the sound of footsteps moving away. Then,

"You know what I don't understand?" Kakashi asked.

The cloaked man turned his head back around. Kakashi had vanished.

There was a sudden burst of dirt and rock behind the figure as the bloody, silver haired ninja shot out from under the ground, gripping a kunai.

"Why you didn't state your business when I asked." he said calmly.

Kakashi slashed, and met the katana with another _clang! _but it forced the man backwards, causing him to stumble. Despite the pain in his body, Kakashi swiftly swiped at the opening: the man's legs. He felt the cutting sensation of his blade slicing through flesh. There was a large tear in the red and black cloak. The man put his hand on top of his straw hat and hopped back. Kakashi retreated ten feet. His eyes glazed the man's bottom half.

There wasn't a drop of blood.

_What the…?_ Kakashi thought. _ But I was sure I'd—_

The figure flew to Kakashi's right, but was stopped with another slash of a kunai against the katana. Kakashi slid in front of him.

"Not so fast." Kakashi said quietly, eyes on the shadows beneath the hat.

There was a pause, and the man lifted his head in one movement. The eyes underneath the hat met Kakashi's.

Kakashi's eyes widened in panic. _Wh-what?_

Immediately, he pushed away and flew another ten feet back, stumbling into a crouch.

_It had just been a glimpse, but…_

The man in the cloak cocked his head. Then, without warning, he launched himself down the path, past Kakashi, with astounding speed.

_Shit!_

The runner moved fast. Dirt rose as his quick steps propelled him further down the path. Kakashi's head was still spinning from what he'd seen. Sweat was forming on his face, even though he wasn't that tired. He felt a scream of panic threatening to rise within him.

_I don't...I don't understand this! How? I don't..._

His thoughts were jumbled.

_Y-you? How?_

Kakashi shook his head to clear it. He didn't have time to analyze what he'd seen. He had to stop that runner.

He leapt with all his might to the top of a nearby tree and began throwing himself quickly from tree to tree. He watched as the man made a beeline down the path toward Konoha, accelerating with frightening speed.

Kakashi cursed. They were quickly nearing the village's border. _At this rate_, Kakashi realized, _I won't reach him in time_.

He raised his eyebrows. _ Unless…_

"Substitution no jutsu," Kakashi muttered, immediately materializing to the runner's right in place of a tree that had been there. With one hand on the ground, Kakashi sent a swift, two footed kick into the runner's side, catapulting him off the path and into a clearing a distance away.

Kakashi quickly crossed his fingers again, causing two clones to materialize next to the man's body. The clones pinned down the man with their arms. One yanked the katana from the man's struggling hands and immediately lined the blade up with the man's neck, slitting it. Just as Kakashi suspected, no blood spilled from the wound.

_I see, _Kakashi thought, watching the bloodless wound form from the eyes of his clone. _It was a gamble, but now I'm sure._

He dashed into the clearing, skidding on his knees to the spot next to his clones and the cloaked man. The man struggled against the grip of the clones. Kakashi raised his hand.

"Chidori," he said quietly.

His hand immediately sparked with electricity. His eyes were lidded. He felt tears threatening to spill.

_I can't believe this_, he thought.

In one quick movement, Kakashi shoved his hand like a spear into the man's chest. The man immediately went limp. Kakashi removed his hand.

No blood, yet again.

For a moment, Kakashi just sat there on his knees, staring at the figure on the ground. Then, a tear fell from his eye.

_This circumstance..._

Kakashi reached forward and pulled off the hat, tossing it to the side. He looked at the face in front of him.

_How? Who did this to you?_

And it was at that moment that Kakashi heard a near-silent ticking coming from the man's body. His eyebrows furrowed. Then, he gently tugged the cloak off the man's body. His eyes widened.

_A bomb._

The man had been wearing it like a backpack under the cloak.

In a panic, Kakashi immediately unstrapped the giant, boxlike weapon and shoved it at his clone. He quickly picked up the man's limp body and flew toward the village. His clone took off in the other direction.

Kakashi ran faster than he had in a long time, the man's heavy body not hindering his quick feet. He channeled all the strength he could to get the clone as far from Konoha as possible. He felt his clone's feet launching from tree to tree, covering a mile every minute.

_I can't believe this._

He mustered all of his energy and sent it to the clone, who moved even faster.

_Run, _he told it. _Run._

Kakashi reached the entrance to the town and hopped onto the roof of a building. "Iruka!" he yelled.

Iruka looked up from the entrance. "Kakashi! You need to explain! Akat-"

His speech was cut off when he saw the man in Kakashi's arms.

"_Oh, Kami. _Wha-"

"I'll explain later!"

_Run, _Kakashi told his clone. _Keep running. _

He felt his clone pick up even more speed.

Kakashi looked out into the woods.

Iruka frantically followed his gaze. "Is someone coming, Kakashi!?"

Within seconds, Kakashi felt the bomb explode in his clone's hands. A mushroom shaped cloud rose up far in the distance, just far enough from the village to avoid what could have been terrible tragedy.

Kakashi felt his clone dissipate. Dusty gusts of air and small debris flew into the town. His hair whipped in the newfound wind, but he kept his eyes on the dust cloud. He knelt.

_Thank Kami-sama_, Kakashi thought, putting a hand over his chest in relief.

"Kakashi!" Iruka yelled again from the ground. "What…what is the meaning of this?"

Kakashi looked down at the lifeless face in his arms.

_I can't believe this_, he thought again.

Then, he hopped, roof to roof, towards the center of the village.

He had to find Tsunade.


	6. Chapter 6

**This is another crack at Team Taka. Believe it or not, I actually like writing about them. They're interesting, and I feel like their team dynamic wasn't focused on too much in the real series, so I'm going to give it a try. Here goes!**

* * *

Chapter 6

As he often found himself doing, Sasuke watched the rain. He watched the drops soundlessly pelt rooftops like arrows launched from a drawn bow. He inhaled the silence. This rain did not scream. Not like it did in his dreams.

He knew Karin watched him sleep. He could feel her crimson eyes on his closed lids almost every night, as if they were begging for entrance into his mind. She'd even asked him once.

"_What do you dream about?' she prodded, running her fingers through his hair. He could feel her curves against his chest and pelvis, but it evoked nothing from him._

_He closed his eyes. "Death," he told her._

_She pressed her breasts further into his ribcage and brought her lips to his neck. He didn't tense at her hot breath. "Death?"_

"_Yes."_

He didn't really dream about death all the time. But he hadn't lied to Karin either. Especially lately, his dreams ended with him dying. Normally, it was at the hands of Itachi, who would pin him against a wall and stab him over and over. And he would scream, but the rain, which would drip down his face like blood, would scream louder. Guttural, pained howls. But once and a while, it would be Naruto choking him to death. _Nakama,_ he would always say. _Friend._ Then, Sasuke would black out and wake up.

He never woke up crying or yelling. He woke up quietly, touching his neck and chest and checking his body for sword wounds and bruises shaped like fingers. Every morning, he'd wake to the noiseless pounding of the rain on the rooftops. And though he didn't like many things, he did like this silent rain.

Sasuke's eyes trailed the roofs of the town and set on the distant horizon. A gust of wind blew in through the window, sending his black cloak flowing behind him and his hair into disarray. Paying no mind, he remained at the base of the pane-less window on the highest floor of Pain's tower, fingers weaved together and hands over his mouth. He inhaled. Seconds later, he felt a presence at the foot of the building.

He exhaled and closed his eyes, as his silence was interrupted by the sound of the door to the room slamming against the wall.

"Damn it, Sasuke."

As Sasuke had predicted, it was Juugo who'd come first. He opened his eyes.

Drenched, Juugo sighed and shook his head, eyebrows furrowed in angry concern. "You had us worried."

Sasuke said nothing and kept his eyes on the horizon.

"You concealed your presence, but they'll realize I'm here any second," Juugo said, dropping his wet cloak from his shoulders.

He was right. Within seconds, Sasuke felt two more presences behind him.

A wet Suigetsu charged forward, and Juugo had to grab his arms to keep him back. He gritted his shark like teeth. "Oi! What the hell, Sasuke!"

Karin stepped into the room and, upon seeing Sasuke, sighed with relief. "Thank Kami-sama."

Juugo had him in a wrestler's hold, but Suigetsu was relentless. "Where the hell were you!?" he yelled. "We looked for you for hours! Hours! With no _fucking_ idea where you were!"

Sasuke said nothing.

"You got some nerve," Suigetsu sneered, spitting rainwater out of his mouth. "What the fuck did you think we were gonna think!? You know those officials are after you! And those assassins! And you didn't even leave a message! -Oi, get off me, Juugo!—- Look, I know you're stronger than us, but you can't just do that shit! What an inconsiderate fucki-"

Karin cut him off. "Suigetsu!"

"Gah," Suigetsu continued, fuming. "Of course you defend him."

He pushed out of Juugo's grasp, but instead of jumping at Sasuke, he just glared.

Juugo looked at Karin and Suigetsu and then at Sasuke. "Sasuke," he said with another sigh, "you can't just disappear like that. Not when we're being tracked by ninja from all five villages, not to mention the assassin groups that want your head. Remember, it was your choice to leave Konoha right after the war, but you haven't paid for your crimes, so you're still a wanted man. It's been three years, but they aren't giving up because… you're extremely important. We can't afford to lose you. And I know you probably had some good reason, but the stakes with this are incredibly high."

Sasuke finally spoke quietly, not diverting his attention from the horizon. "I'm aware of the stakes."

"Then why the fuck would you leave like that?" Suigetsu snarled from the doorway. "You're smart, Sasuke, but that was pretty fucking dumb."

Karin, who'd been avoiding the fighting, made a seat near the far right corner of the window, about ten feet from Sasuke. She took out her hair again and shook it like a dog. "Suigetsu, we're the dumb ones."

"Hah?" Suigetsu looked appalled. "What the hell do you mean? We just spent—"

"-hours looking for Sasuke-kun? Yeah, we did that. And we weren't smart enough to figure out that he was here the whole time."

Suigetsu's ice colored eyebrows shot up. "You mean—"

"Yes," Karin huffed, shooting an annoyed, but concerned glance at their team's leader. "I…I saw him when we were out in the rain. I thought it was my imagination…but he was here in the confines of the tower this whole time. Weren't you, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke said nothing. Karin continued. "He must've returned shortly after leaving, probably to relish the silence without us here. It was brilliant, really, tricking us like that. And it makes sense that he would want to, given how _rude_ and_ obnoxious_," she pointedly glared at Suigetsu, "we can be."

Sasuke stared ahead without answering. He waited a moment. Then,

"Juugo."

Juugo was caught off guard. "Yes?"

"You said just now that you couldn't afford to lose me, correct?"

Juugo brown eyes narrowed. "Yes."

In one quick movement, Sasuke unsheathed his katana. The blade was covered in blood that looked like it had just recently dried.

"You're right." he said quietly. "Without me, you all would be dead."

He stood up and made his way to the edge of the window.

"But, without me, you wouldn't be rogues, either. You'd live happy, naïve lives, free of regret and the stain of slaughtering innocents."

With his arm outstretched, he let the rain fall on his katana, and the blood, after seconds of silence, peeled off and fell down to the streets. Karin stuck her head out, watching the pieces fall.

Sasuke looked at the horizon again. "With me you're in bad shape. Without me you're in bad shape. Ultimately, it's your choice to either leave or stay, and whether you want me as an ally or as an enemy is up to you."

He pulled back his sword, and used the end of his cloak to dry it. Team Taka was silent for a moment.

"The blood I just cleansed from my sword was the price an innocent man paid to allow for me to get food for you."

He gestured toward the back corner of the room, and the others' heads followed. There sat a sack of apples, bread, and some bottles of water slumped against the wall. Sasuke eyed his bleak reflection in his blade. His face was completely pale as usual, and his eyes were the same menacing obsidian.

"I killed a man tonight," he stated.

He turned to face Suigetsu, who had crept further back into the doorway.

"Years ago, I killed my brother, who was the greatest ninja to ever live. If I can do that and live without killing myself out of guilt, I can do anything. Anything I want. "

Suigetsu met his eyes. Sasuke didn't think Suigetsu was scared, just merely embarrassed. Sorry, even.

"So if you value yourself, don't question me."

That was it. With that, Sasuke returned to his position at the window. For a while, there was silence. Nothing but the rain pattering. Suigetsu eyed Juugo nervously, only to eventually retreat to the food in the corner and to sheepishly eat from it. Juugo spread out his mat and grabbed half a loaf of bread. Karin ate an apple by the window. Sasuke ate nothing.

A couple hours passed in silence. Eventually, the gray, cloudy evening melted into a dark, starless night. And late into it, Sasuke continued to sit in the typical position, hands held together over his mouth. It was still raining, but there was no longer a visible horizon for him to keep his eyes on, so when Karin came over, he looked at her instead.

She cocked her head as her long, cherry hair slid across her sleeveless shoulders. She must have undressed at some point to wash, because she had a blanket wrapped around her, but a lot of glossy skin was visible underneath. Her glasses were off.

"It's late," she said tiredly.

In the usual manner, Sasuke dutifully didn't respond. Karin sighed and sat down next to him, legs crossed and blanket draped around her neck like a long scarf. Her upper body was bare and slightly undried, all except for her bra.

She closed her eyes. "You talked more today than I've heard in months."

Sasuke's eyes traced her body, passing over her round, voluminous breasts without reaction and instead hovering over the giant scar wound in the middle of her chest. He couldn't not look at it, though. He'd done that in the fight against Danzo. Sakura had healed it. He also eyed her bare shoulders, arms, and neck, which were all covered in his own bite marks when she'd healed him on numerous occasions.

Karin opened her eyes, saw where he was looking, and pulled the blanket over it. "Don't look at those," she said, cheeks red.

Then, for some reason, she moved in close to him. She pressed her shoulder and hip against his. And maybe it was because she had defended him to Suigetsu earlier, or that she had used her body to heal him so many times, but Sasuke couldn't find it in him to push her away. Nonetheless, his hands remained over his mouth.

"You had us really worried, you asshole," she said, eyes on his face.

Her eyes moved to his lips.

There was a stir behind them. "Speak for yourself," Suigetsu mumbled into his mat. "I didn't give two shits."

That made Karin chuckle a bit.

Sasuke closed his eyes again and, once again rejecting Karin's advances, leaned back onto the hard floor of the tower. He brought his hands to his sides and, though the lack of light concealed it, he allowed for the smallest of smiles to grace his lips.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Sup. I like to think that this is when things start to get interesting, but forgive me if I'm wrong. I love Shikamaru, and I really liked writing from his perspective in this. Sai is fun to write too, and so is Naruto. I liked writing this. I'm new with writing suspense though, so if it's terrible, DON'T JUDGE ME! Haha, please enjoy!_**

* * *

Chapter 7

_Ino's right_, Shikamaru thought. _I really need a new office._

He leaned back against the wall, breathing in the musty scent of the worn down, broken room which he could, with a grimace, call his own. He eyed the stained, dirty floor, the dusty bookshelf in the corner, and the old, rigid desk slathered with paperwork. He glanced over to the left side of the room at the window, which had been, for the last few months, cluttered with spider carcasses and insect remains. Shikamaru didn't mind the state of the window, though. He had no need for it, especially because the biggest asset to the room, the massive hole in the wall behind his desk, allowed in a nice breeze.

The hole was a good 4 feet tall and it arched so wide that Shikamaru couldn't even find a curtain to cover it up. He still remembered the day it had come to exist. Konohamaru hadn't meant to do it, it had just sort of happened. The kid had been excited and he wanted to show off his improved Rasengan to the Hokage. When the hole had been blasted into the wall, Naruto had just smiled. And Shikamaru, despite being the Hokage's trusted advisor, was also the youngest assistant to the Hokage, and, therefore, had been forced to claim the room as his office.

Yet again, he had received what he liked to call _the ultimate shaft._

Shikamaru sighed as he noticed a bird's nest at the base of the hole's opening. "Not another one," he said, kicking the nest so it collapsed into a scattered jumble of twigs.

The hole, though, wasn't that big of a problem for Shikamaru. Sure, it was hideous and "_completely tacky_" as Ino liked to tell him, but Shikamaru was starting to think it was the room's signature piece. It made his office different and allowed in gusts of wind when all the other shinobis in this building were in their offices roasting to death. Plus, the hole was minor compared to his _other_ problem.

He clenched his jaw. _Ah_.

Shikamaru moved to his desk and slowly pulled open the top left drawer. In it laid a small, green notebook. He sat down at his desk and leafed through the pages, licking his fingers every couple times to grip the frayed edges easier. His fingers tensed as he flipped to the desired page. It was a page toward the back, but not close enough to the back to arouse suspicion if stumbled upon. He'd written fast, so his hand had produced an illegible scrawl of mangled letters, but that was the desired result. It was a code he'd constructed himself. A code no one else would figure out.

The incident he'd recorded had unfolded in March, which was a couple months ago, and since then he hadn't been able to get his mind off of it. During, he'd taken in every detail he could and had written them all on this page. He'd hidden the notebook in his desk and had written in code to secure the information. The only people who knew of it were Kakashi and Temari of the Sand.

Shikamaru rubbed his eyes. Night after agonizing night, he'd pored over these notes hoping to come glean meaning out of them. The incident didn't make sense to him. Why did it occur? What was its cause? But, just a few days ago, he'd come to something of an 'aha'. He'd found _another _incident with similar circumstances. He owed Temari a huge thanks for that one. She'd gotten hima step closer.

He had informed Kakashi, who told him to be on the look out. Now, he was waiting for an answer. A third sign. Something to confirm his theory. He furrowed his eyebrows and traced his finger over the first word.

"Whatcha reading?"

Shikamaru jumped and kneed the corner of his desk. A jolt of pain shot through his leg. "Damn it, Sai," he groaned, trying not to seem flustered. "You almost gave me a heart attack. Unable to knock or something?"

Sai leaned against the door and cocked his head, smiling. He gestured toward the hole in the wall. "Why would I? You have an open doorway."

The Hokage's advisor quickly shoved the notebook back into the drawer and slammed it shut. He glanced at Sai out of the corner of his eye. His heart began to beat a little faster.

_Did he see what was in the book?_

Kakashi had said to keep it on the down low. However, just now, Shikamaru could've have blown it.

"How did you not notice me come in, anyway?" Sai asked nonchalantly, mouth in a straight, gray line. His dark eyes roved about the room. " Aren't you a ninja? A _high caliber_ ninja, I might add?"

Despite the jab, Shikamaru mentally breathed a sigh of relief. It didn't seem like Sai had noticed anything suspicious. He was acting as his usual, savage self.

"Can it. There's no need for your sarcastic inquiries," Shikamaru replied. He laid eyes on Sai's torso. "Especially when you're dressed like that."

Sai smiled a cutesy smile, but that didn't divert attention from his weird outfit. Over the last three years, Sai's black hair had grown longer, and he had started to sport black vests more often. But, for some reason Shikamaru had never understood, Sai never once, since he'd come to Konoha, forgotten to expose his belly and cover the rest of himself up with black, tight clothing. And today for him was no different. Apparently, Shikamaru figured, girls dug that these days. Women really were weird.

"You're friends with Naruto and you're talking to _me _about proper attire?" Sai questioned. He looked down at his clothes. "Orange, Shikamaru, will never be the new black."

"Agh," Shikamaru said, shaking his head. "I have no comment."

Sai smiled, eyes closed. "Then ready to go?" he asked.

Shikamaru just now noticed that the ninja had a sack on his back.

"Shit," he grumbled, shading his eyes with his hand as he looked at the sun's position through the wall hole. "It's four thirty already? I didn't even realize..."

"You never have broken the habit of being too lazy to write on a calendar," Sai said. He whipped a brush out from his pocket and pulled out a pad of paper from his sack. "Naruto is busy, probably with Fireworks preparations for tomorrow. He has to deliver a speech, remember? We gotta get this done quickly so he has time to start writing it."

Shikamaru stood up. "You automatically assume that Naruto _hasn't_ yet written the speech he has to give tomorrow when he's had months to prepare it_?_ Now, that's a little too harsh of an assumption."

"A realistic one, nonetheless," Sai said with a smile. "Let's go."

Shikamaru nodded, casually and noiselessly sliding his desk chair in front of the drawer containing notebook. It seemed that, regarding keeping the information a secret, he had temporarily succeeded.

Key word: Temporarily.

* * *

On a regular occasion, Shikamaru would be highly embarrassed that he'd forgotten about a meeting with the Hokage. But given that his mind had been elsewhere recently, and that Naruto was a pretty lenient guy, he figured that being late was fine just this once.

The two ninja stood outside Naruto's office. Sai raised his knuckle to the door.

"Shikamaru, I bet you a hundred yen he hasn't started writing the speech yet."

"Deal."

Sai knocked.

"Ah-come in," came a voice.

They opened the door and were met with blinding sunlight shining through the large window walls that made up the room. Naruto sat at his long desk with his feet propped up and his head in a book. The desk was covered with stacks of paper, scrolls, letters from townspeople, and empty, unwashed food bowls. His white cloak was slung over his chair, allowing for his black T-shirt to actively clash with the orange pants he wore religiously. His head whipped up expectantly, only to have his smile disappear as he laid eyes on them. For a minute, he looked surprised.

"You...you guys aren't the ramen guy."

Sai and Shikamaru shared a wary glance. "No, we're not."

Naruto looked confused. Then, he leaned over to look at his calendar, which was propped up on his desk.

"Advisory meeting, 4:30 on Friday," he read.

He paused.

"That's...right now, isn't it."

The two nodded.

At that, he sighed, taking the calendar, crumpling it up, and tossing it across the room. It bounced off the wall into the waste basket.

"Wasn't using it anyway," he said with a smile.

"That actually goes in recycling," Sai commented.

"Sai, you sound like Baa-chan," Naruto said. He heightened his voice pitch. "_What are you doing trashing my room! Put things in the garbage! Some Hokage you are!_ I swear I go deaf every time she does that."

"Well, maybe you should heed her advice," Shikamaru advised. "You want rodents in here?"

"Eh...I'll summon Gamakichi to eat 'em or something. And you're talking about cleaning, Mr. Hole in the Wall?"

Sai and Shikamaru laughed. At that, Naruto looked pleased. "Anyway," he said, looking up at them, "I'm sorry for the informal-ness of this. I forgot you guys were coming. I ordered ramen a little bit ago, so I guess I got sidetracked and forgot to remember."

"Tch," Shikamaru said with a slight grin. He crossed his arms. "Typical."

Sai put a hand to his chin. "But what's atypical is you with a book."

Naruto's whiskered face took on a look of excitement. "You mean this?" He turned the book he'd been holding around so they could see. It was full of old photographs sloppily taped onto each page. "It's a photo album."

Sai pulled up a stool from against the wall. Shikamaru stayed standing. "Photo album?" he asked. "Whose?"

Naruto grinned down at the pages. "You won't believe this, but there's a photo album for the Hokages!" He pointed to the giant bookshelf over in the corner. "It has all of us in it! Except me of course. And get this: I found it _behind_ the bookshelf. Strange, huh? Don't get me wrong, I didn't go near the bookshelf to _read_ or anything dumb like that. See, I was trying to catch this spider the size of a walnut."

He made a gesture with his hands to show the size. From what he was showing, the spider was much larger than a walnut. Shikamaru came to the conclusion that he may have mixed up _walnut _and _coconut_, but he decided not to mention that.

"The bastard got away," Naruto said, and he looked legitimately pissed off.

Shikamaru ran his hand over his stubble. "Well, I'm sorry about your arachnid troubles…"

Sai loudly ripped out a piece of paper from his sketchpad, as if to intentionally interrupt the current conversation. "Hokage-sama, we have some business to take care of," he said.

He looked at Shikamaru. Naruto glanced up. "Sure! What's up?"

For a scary second, Shikamaru's impulses almost took over. Even now, it seems that he'd been thinking about it, albeit unconsciously. To the tip of his tongue shot every detail, every letter of every word on the page toward the back of the green notebook sitting in his desk. He nearly came clean and exposed the incident that had been plaguing his thoughts for the past two months. But, he caught himself, and shoved all thoughts of the notebook away.

_No,_ he thought.

"R-right," he heard himself say. He forced his eyes to focus on the Hokage. "Uhm...as you know, it's been about three years since you became the leader of this village. In that time, we've done a lot of reconstruction and reformation, which is good, but we've also pushed off something else. And although it may seem juvenile to you, it has to be done. We need your face on Hokage Mountain."

There was a pause, as the current Hokage looked at his advisor and slowly set down the photo album. "My face, huh?"

Shikamaru affirmed. He noticed Naruto looked pensive, which was odd.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"Hm? No, nothing's wrong," Naruto said. "I've actually looked forward to this since...I was little."

"Good," Shikamaru said. He tried not notice that his hands were clammy. "Then all we need is your permission. Sai and the rock artists will take it from there."

The Hokage was staring at Shikamaru. Then, he started laughing. "For a second, Shikamaru, I thought you were going to deliver some terrible news with the way you stuttered at the beginning."

"Tch, I wasn't-"

"I know, I know. I'm kidding."

Shikamaru hadn't even realized his heart rate had risen before he felt it settle. He exhaled silently. There was no way he could start making a habit of keeping secrets from the Hokage. Naruto, despite lacking in book smarts, possessed extremely high emotional intelligence. It was one of his biggest strengths. And, Shikamaru liked to think, it was also a weakness, especially in regards to…

"What about Sasuke's face?"

Shikamaru knew this was gonna come up. It always did. Luckily, in this case, it allowed for him to forget his notebook problem for a few seconds. He could think of a billion reasons Sasuke's face shouldn't be on Hokage Mountain. Coming up with reasons as to why that was preposterous was easy. He had no sympathy for Sasuke. And after all the stress he'd been having with that damn notebook, it was a nice change to think about this for a while.

He looked out the window. "Sasuke isn't the Hokage," he said simply.

At this, Sai started gracing his brush across his sheet of parchment, painting arcs and lines and dots. Naruto glanced out the window too and eyed the mountain. His eyes rested on the empty spot where they would put his face.

"I became Hokage because of how I fought in the war, right? Well, Sasuke played as much of a part as I did. The only reason he didn't become Hokage was-"

"- because he manipulated others into doing his will and tried to kill you and those you love multiple times?" Shikamaru finished. "Well, that's one reason."

There was a pause. Naruto looked taken aback.

Shikamaru bit his tongue. "Erm...look, Hokage-sama," he continued, trying to mask the comment he'd just made with a compliment. "You were astounding in the war. We wouldn't have stood a chance without you. But, your actions in the war aren't the only thing you've done that has helped you get this position. Are you seriously doubting that you deserve to be Hokage right now, three years after you were selected?"

The Hokage shook his head. "No! It's just...others besides me deserve acknowledgement. Sure, I can have my face up on a rock, but Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan deserve something too. And Sasuke, even though you don't like him."

Sai studied his sketchpad intently. "Naruto, to be fair, _no one_ but you likes Sasuke."

"Naruto," Shikamaru said, trying his best not to make a semi rude comment, "even over the most trivial of matters, you look out for others. That's admirable, but, unfortunately, unnecessary in this case. Kakashi has already declared that he doesn't feel he needs any formal recognition even when we wanted to give it to him. He said seeing you become Hokage was more than enough."

Sai continued to paint. Naruto started. "But-"

"I've already consulted Sakura as well. She refused any recognition. In fact…" Shikamaru took a few moments to dig a crumpled up piece of paper out of his pocket. It looked like it had been stepped on a couple times. He set it on the table in front of Naruto. "She put this on my desk a couple days ago."

Naruto looked at it. "She gave you garbage?"

"Uncrumple it."

He reached forward, unfolding and flattening out the paper.

"It's a note," Shikamaru said. Then, he glanced to the side and scratched his head. "Admittedly, we had forgotten about putting your face on the mountain. We were pretty busy...but she reminded me of it. Numerous times. This is one of five notes she's left me on the subject."

Naruto's eyes scanned the paper.

_Shikamaru-_

_You asked me if I wanted recognition, and I declined. However, I want something in place of it. It's been three years. How about putting the 6th Hokage on the mountain before his rock face would need wrinkles? That would be splendid._

_-Sakura_

A smile broke out on the young Hokage's face.

"She doesn't beat around the bush," Shikamaru commented.

"No, she doesn't," Naruto said with a laugh. Then, he set the note to the side. "Well, what about-"

"We can't give any recognition to Sasuke," Shikamaru said quickly. "Perhaps if he'd stayed and faced his charges rather than flee Konoha after the war like a coward, things might have been different."

Naruto looked at his advisor. "He wasn't a coward, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru wanted so badly to comment, but he knew better. The man in front of him was not only leagues above him in combat ability, but he also was his friend and boss. And, for some reason, when it came to disrespecting Uchiha Sasuke, Naruto got very defensive. This was neither the time nor the place to argue, so Shikamaru kept his mouth shut. Nonetheless, he found the constant pardoning of a murderer to be completely... troublesome.

"Naruto," Sai said, breaking the silence. He was holding his brush. "Could you tilt your head to the left a bit?"

The Hokage looked over in confusion. "Are you...drawing me?"

Sai smiled. "Perfect."

"Sai, I didn't give you permi-"

"Done."

After a few more strokes, Sai turned the sketchpad around. On it was a detailed, accurate drawing of Naruto's face with a determined expression. It was complete with numbers measuring dimensions and ratios. The real Naruto's eyes almost popped. "Wowza."

Sai nodded. "People aren't my strongest point. I normally do tigers. But, the face you make when you defend Sasuke always gets this sort of 'Hokage-like' expression going, so I figured I'd capture it when you were in the moment."

Naruto looked at that picture. "I'll admit, it looks badass," he said. "But, I...I can't just-"

Shikamaru sighed a little too loudly to be respectful. "Yes. Yes, you can. And it's happening. You have no argument here. You're getting the recognition you deserve. And ultimately," he gestured to the windows, which overlooked the whole of Konoha, "it's the people's decision. And they, as evidenced by Sakura's persistence, want it."

"You've been overruled, Hokage-sama," Sai said with a cheeky grin.

Naruto looked between the two of them, trying hard to frown.

"You've wanted this for a long time. I know you have," Shikamaru continued. "You don't need to act noble all the time. Let people praise you once and a while."

There was a pause. The Hokage's blue eyes darted between the two of them. Eventually, he gave in.

"Fine."

Shikamaru grinned.

"Joy," Sai said, standing up abruptly. "I'll be taking this to Karui down at the site immediately. Ya know, Naruto, you could've saved me a good fifteen minutes of life if you'd just agreed at the beginning and not had to be all selfless and stuff."

Naruto leaned into his hand and arched an eyebrow. "Well, then you wouldn't have had my determined face to copy down, now would you?"

Sai winked. "Believe it or not, I'm a pro. I could draw you in my sleep."

"Ugh, please don't."

The two laughed. Shikamaru chuckled too.

"So," Naruto said, looking out at the mountain again. "When is it gonna start being constructed?"

"I believe the day of the Fireworks," Sai replied. "So, tomorrow."

Naruto gasped and put his hand to his head in exasperation. "The Fireworks! Forgot about that! Shit, I have a speech to write!"

Sai outstretched his hand. "I hope that by 'write' you mean 'start practicing'?"

"No, no. I mean start writing. Shit."

Shikamaru sighed, took out some bills from his wallet, and dropped them into Sai's hand. "Damn it, Naruto. See what happens when I trust you? Is there anything you actually remember?"

Naruto's face gained a sly expression. "I remember that I ordered a ramen guy a while ago and not a sarcastic comment, Shikamaru. Track him down for me? He's slow."

Shikamaru smiled and pocketed his wallet. "Done."

"Great."

With that, the two turned to leave.

"Oi, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru turned. "Yes, Hokage-sama?"

Naruto was looking at him with a grateful expression. "Thank you for being honest with me about Sasuke and the village. I really appreciate it and I'm glad I can trust you to tell me when I'm being too...hard on myself. Every good Hokage has a good advisor to back him up. People tell me I'm a great Hokage. So I owe that to you, my great advisor."

At that, Shikamaru got a weird feeling in his stomach. His mind drifted to the notebook he was concealing in his desk and a strange feeling washed over him.

"Y-yeah. No problem."

He closed the door to Naruto's office quickly.

This feeling was guilt.

* * *

Shikamaru made his way back to his dump of an office, only stopping to instruct the ramen guy rushing down the hallway that the Hokage's office was the door at the end of the hall. He reached his own office door and pushed it open, only to find Sai sitting in his desk chair. He was holding the sketch of Naruto's face.

"So," Sai said, crossing his arms, "are you going to tell me what's in that notebook or am I going to have to decipher it for myself?"

_What? _

Panicking, Shikamaru reached for his kunai, which was ridiculous, because he'd never stab Sai. He brought his hand back. Sai cocked his head and glanced at the drawer containing the notebook. "You'd never stab me, Shikamaru. We're allies. Friends."

"I thought you'd gone to give that sketch to Karui."

"I knew that's what you'd thought," Sai responded. He looked seriously at Shikamaru. "What's been the deal lately with people, Shikamaru? I saw Iruka today, and he seemed off, more confused than normal. And when he saw me, he'd acted like he'd seen a ghost. When I asked him what was wrong, he pretended to be fine. Those fake smiles, I see right through them. And last night, I talked to Tsunade-sama. She had tear stains and barely responded to me. You were acting weird in Naruto's office, and it probably had to do with whatever you have in this book," he rapped the closed drawer twice, "which I _did_ see you with earlier. And did you not hear that explosion?"

_Explosion? What? _

This was too weird. This normally sassy yet socially awkward ninja had suddenly gotten serious. Shikamaru looked at him. "Sai, you're really taking charge. You sick?"

"I'm not sick," he responded rather forcefully.

Shikamaru bit the inside of his cheek. He had no idea what was happening with Tsunade and Iruka, or how Sai had found a correlation between Shikamaru's actions today and their actions. Yet, he was already beginning to worry.

_What explosion? Did it all have to do with…?_

"Whatever it is," Sai continued, "the Hokage of our village deserves to know. And if it's threatening, it's all the more pertinent."

"You have to realize that everything I do I do for a reason. I've been told to keep it quiet."

"By Kakashi, I presume," Sai said. "Yeah, he's acting a little weird too. But not really. He's good at keeping his cool."

Shikamaru was astounded. Sai was extremely intuitive. Scary perceptive.

The ninja flipped his straight, black hair out of his eyes. "You don't need to tell me what's happening," he said. "I do tend to blab things. But the Hokage deserves to know. People's lives really must be in danger, especially if you, who's normally extremely level headed, is this worked up. See ya."

He pushed out of the chair and walked toward the gaping hole in the wall. Then, he turned.

"Oh, and I think Sakura might've left you another note on your desk. Only this time, she hid it under your paperweight. Weird. She normally doesn't do that with notes."

Shikamaru glanced toward the desk, and, sure enough, there was a little slip of folded paper there, barely noticeable, with a corner sticking out from under the metal paperweight.

"Thanks...Sai."

Sai leapt out the hole, and Shikamaru couldn't even find it in himself to be mad that he had sat in his desk chair. Because Sai was right. He needed to tell Naruto. But...would the Hokage want to hear it? And what if it was nothing of importance? Only a freak occurrence? After all, he still needed evidence to back it up.

Shaking his head, he walked over to his desk. He yanked the piece of paper out from under the paperweight. That _was _odd, considering Sakura, in her notes, normally had nothing to hide.

However, it wasn't from Sakura. It read:

_Your suspicions have been confirmed._

_-Kakashi_

Nevermind. He couldn't tell Naruto. Not at all.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey everyone! Sorry for the late chapter posting! I have school I'm attending now, but I will be working on the story for as long as time permits. Thanks so much for your patience! You know the drill!**

**(Note: I tried my best in this to actually include TenTen in the cast, since she is normally left out or irrelevant)**

* * *

Chapter 8

It took approximately .4 seconds upon his arrival at Konoha's cemetery for Rock Lee to realize that he was a complete idiot.

He eyed the black dresses and suits on everyone around him. Then, he slowly looked down at his green, tight pants, vest, and orange legwarmers.

"Oh, son of a bi-" was all he got out before he heard the gasps of children nearby. Their parents gave him dirty looks. The mother jammed her fingers in her baby's ears.

"Sorry! I didn't say it! I didn't curse!"

The group walked away with sour expressions on their faces. Lee sighed.

Today was the morning of the Fireworks. It was the one time of the year that Konoha's cemetery was bursting at the seams with _live_ people. Every year, Konoha held a Remembrance Ceremony there in memory of the deceased shinobi who died protecting the village. People would fill up the place to listen to the Hokage deliver a speech about Konoha's courage and strength, and then they would disperse and go to their loved ones' respective gravestones to cry and pray. The crowd this year was huge, and from what Lee could see, every single person was wearing black clothing, much to his chagrin.

_Great,_ he thought. _Now I'll look even stupider than I normally do when I ask her out._

He felt his hands clench around the bouquet of roses he was holding. For a second, he thought he spotted her hair.

"Oi!" he yelled. "Sakura-saaaan!"

The girl he was yelling at turned around. She had eyes the color of dung and more moles than skin.

"Eh? Whadd'ya want?"

"Ah…sorry. You aren't her."

Yes, the day had come. Not only was it the morning of the Remembrance Ceremony, but it was also the day when Rock Lee would finally ask Haruno Sakura to the Fireworks. If he could find her, that is.

_Kami-sama_, he prayed as he scanned the bustling crowd. _I've been good, I think. Gai-sensei says so. TenTen-san think's I'm an idiot, but that's beside the point. Please, help me not screw this up! Thank you, Kami-sama!_

Lee pushed open the cemetery gate and strolled onto the lawn. Hundreds of chairs were positioned around a giant, makeshift stage with a podium and microphone stationed at the front of it. People pushed and shoved to get the best spots. It reminded Lee of ants crowding a hunk of food. He put his hand to his forehead to block the sun as he tried to pick out a pink head of hair.

Without warning, he felt a firm set of fingers wrap around his wrist. The roses fell from his hand as he was whipped into the air. The next thing he felt was his back slamming into the ground.

"About time you showed up, idiot," a voice said.

Lee had seen TenTen's annoyed face when he'd been upside down in midair, but, in his opinion, it was a lot more angry looking when it was right side up. She stood over him, wearing a black, flowy dress, and her hair curled into one bun instead of two. Her bangs were pinned up. Next to her stood Kiba, Chouji, and Shino, who were all in dashing black suits.

"Lee!" Chouji exclaimed. His hair was in a ponytail. "Wassup?"

"Been a while, huh, Bowl Cut," Kiba commented with a grin.

It wasn't on his face, but Lee assumed Shino was smiling in his mind.

"H-Hi guys." Lee rubbed his head and looked up at TenTen. He smiled weakly. "TenTen-saaaan. Did you just...judo flip me? That's new."

The girl huffed, and when she did so, a strand of her brown hair fell into her eyes. "That's what you get when you show up late."

Lee raised his bushy eyebrows. "Late?"

Chouji helped Lee up. "Don't you remember?" he asked. "All the original Konoha rookies from our generation were supposed to be here at nine to help set up for this. That's your team, my team, Kiba's team, and Team 7 minus Sasuke. Shikamaru's orders."

"We knew you wouldn't be here early," TenTen said, scowling a little. "Because, you know, that requires you being prepared, so that's automatically out of the question. We waited right by the gate for you. And because of that, we probably lost our seats, so that's just _fantasti_-"

She stopped. Lee winced.

"What. Are. You. _Wearing._"

Lee put his hands in front of him. "I can explain. I didn't have time to—"

"You _know _you're supposed to wear black like _everyone_ does _every year_! What the hell, Lee?"

She put her hand to her head, looking exasperated. Kiba laughed and picked up the flowers Lee had dropped. His spiky hair was tied back in a black bandana, which only he could pull off wearing with a suit. "Hey, it's all right, Lee. Someone has to look stupid at every gathering. I'm just happy it's not me for once."

Chouji laughed from next to him. "Or me!"

"Don't get too excited, Chouji," TenTen said. "You still have that God-awful earring on."

Chouji frowned and fingered the giant black rock sticking out of his earlobe. "You're a cruel woman."

TenTen looked to Lee. "So, why were you late, huh?" She eyed the roses in Kiba's hands. "And...what's with the roses? Neji always liked daisies, remember?"

Kiba smirked. "Ah, roses. The flowers every schmuck uses to ask girls to the Fireworks. Who's it gonna be this year, Lee? Planning on finally asking Sakura?"

Chouji snorted. "How original," he said. "You know there's like eight guys who want to ask her out, right? Damn, at least try to be a little unique with your choice."

Lee grabbed the flowers from Kiba's hands and felt his cheeks heat up a little bit. "I don't see a problem with a little competition," he said. "Besides, Sakura-san, as evidenced by how much she liked Sasuke in the past, likes confident guys who take charge. So, I'm gonna be that guy."

Kiba laughed out loud. "In that outfit? Good luck, brother."

Lee glanced over at TenTen, who was surprisingly silent. She kicked a rock at her feet.

"TenTen-san?"

"Hm?" She looked up. "Oh, er... hi."

"You don't have a comment?" Lee asked. "That's a little weird for you. You criticize my every move, it seems."

He saw her brown eyes look to the side as she crossed her arms. "You can do whatever you like," she said quietly.

There was something about the way she responded that made Lee a bit uneasy.

"Attention everyone!"

The four of them whipped their heads around to look toward the stage. Speaking into the microphone was a very tired, very aggravated looking Shikamaru. Lee noticed that he had bags under his eyes that almost reached his cheekbones. "People, listen! Hey! The Hokage will be out shortly. He's currently practicing. But, he'll be out soon!"

The crowd began to mumble and talk loudly.

"Practicing?" TenTen said a little too angrily. "Honestly, he's had months to prepare this and he's practicing _now_?"

"Eh," Kiba said scratching his head. "It wouldn't be Naruto if the speech was rehearsed well, would it?"

"What's more odd is how off Shikamaru looks. Isn't that a bit weird?"

Lee followed the others' gazes and glanced over at Shino, who'd just spoken for the first time. The only visibly expressive part of his face was his eyebrows, which were creased together.

"The oddest thing is you talking, man! Long time no hearing your voice!" Kiba said happily.

He raised his hand for a high five. Shino's hand stayed at his side.

"I suppose he does seem a little stressed," TenTen said, looking over her shoulder at Shikamaru, who was aggressively consoling a woman who was complaining about something. Lee noticed that she still had her arms crossed, but now sounded more curious than annoyed. "Maybe he had a rough night at the office," she continued. "He does have to manage Naruto, after all. That could potentially drive someone bonkers, wouldn't you say?"

"He's been doing that for years, though," Chouji said. "It would've been a problem before now. Maybe it's a love life problem?"

"Maybe he likes Kakashi-sensei!" Kiba said with a cheeky expression. "Those two have been pretty chummy lately."

"He's with Temari, dumbass," Chouji replied.

"Wait, are they official?"

"I don't know. I just assumed."

"Hm. That doesn't mean he can't swing both ways, though."

"This is a stupid discussion," TenTen said, shaking her head. "Now that Lee's here, let's go get our seats."

"Yo, we lost our chance at seats the moment you said to wait for Lee," Kiba said. He leaned back against the gate. "Let's just chillax here. We can see fine."

Chouji and Shino followed his lead. TenTen looked hesitant, but then sighed and sat down. She looked up at Lee. "Well? Aren't you gonna sit?"

She said it rather forcefully. Lee tried not to pay too much attention to the fluctuations in her behavior.

"Ah...no," he responded. "Forgive me, TenTen-san. I have something I need to do really quick."

He'd already stalled enough. And he couldn't exactly approach Sakura during the mourning period. That would be awkward.

"Oh," TenTen said, looking at the flowers in Lee's hands and furrowing her eyebrows. "Well, okay. We'll be here."

Lee thought he definitely heard a hint of sadness in her voice. And if he was honest, it felt a little weird.

_Was it something I said? _he wondered.

His body turned quickly and left before he could over think things.

* * *

Lee almost fell when he saw her. She leaned against the back of the stage and nodded at something Ino was saying. They both looked hot in black, but he thought Sakura looked especially gorgeous. There weren't a lot of girls that could pull off black flowers in their hair, but the fact that she could, and so well, was astonishing to him.

_Finally_, he thought. _Yosh. 'Oh Sakura-swaaaaan!' Just like I practiced!_

Unfortunately, "S-Sakura-san!" was all that came out.

_Shit. Great start, Romeo._

The two looked over. A smile graced Sakura's face. "Hi, Lee!"

Ino crossed her arms and laughed. "Nice black outfit, you dolt."

"Yeah..." he said.

_Come on! Think of something! Don't be a loser!_

He gripped the flowers so hard that the thorns penetrated the skin in his fingers. He suddenly felt nauseous.

_Why the hell am I so nervous? _he thought. _I've practiced this a bunch of times!_

"Yeah. S-Sakura-san...can...can I ask you something?" he forced out.

_Dammit, that wasn't smooth._

Sakura tilted her head, smiling a little. "If you really must."

_That's why I'm nervous! Kami, she is so damn cute!_

Lee forced his hand to lift the flowers, feeling his bones turn rigid and his gut turn to jelly.

_You can do this, man! What would GAI SENSEI do?_

"Sakura-san, would you g-ack!"

His proposal was interrupted by an elbow to the spine. He jolted forward and dropped the flowers, but was pulled back by a strong hand gripping his bicep.

"Sorry there, Gai-sensei!"

Lee turned to see none other than Naruto, who was mumbling rapidly and poring over a piece of paper he held in his right hand. His left hand held Lee upright.

"Ah, Naruto-san!" Lee exclaimed. "I mean, Hokage-sama! I'm sorry, I was in the way! And...it's Lee."

At that, Naruto looked up. He smiled apologetically and spoke quickly. "Oh...Lee! I'm sorry, Lee. I'm pretty busy right now. Practicing…."

He continued to mumble to himself. Lee caught words like "beholden" and "lamented". He vaguely wondered if Naruto knew what those words meant. Ino seemed to be thinking similarly.

"Oi," she said, laughing a little. "Do you even know what those words all mean?"

"Some," Naruto answered.

Lee glanced over at Sakura, who was looking at Naruto. He couldn't help but feel a little annoyed at the interruption.

_Dammit, _he thought. _I was so close! Now what am I supposed to do? Someone else will ask her before I can!_ _Dammit!_

"You're late, Hokage-sama," Sakura said.

Naruto looked up and, when laying eyes on her, brought his hand to rub his neck. "Would you be angry if I told you to add 'fashionably' to that statement?" he asked.

In Lee's humble opinion, Naruto did look fashionable. He wore a black replica of his usual white cloak, which looked super cool with the red lettering on the back. All his clothes under the cloak were black as well. His blond hair was combed nicely, but still sticking out from under his headband. He was wearing that necklace that had a crystal attached to the end of it. Lee never had asked why he wore that all the time. He was a little curious.

Lee watched Sakura turn her head to scoff at the comment. "You don't look _that _cool. You're still the guy who wears the orange jumpsuit."

"You know," Naruto said, eyeing her with a smile. "Some people find my jumpsuit very dashing."

"Yeah," said Sakura, raising an eyebrow. "Prison wardens."

Ino chuckled and Naruto tried to look offended, but failed as a grin broke out on his face. Sakura smiled.

Lee couldn't help but notice that Sakura had a very pretty smile. He leaned down to pick up the flowers that he'd dropped. He wondered if her smile would be that pretty when he asked her to the Fireworks.

"Look, you better get out there," she said, leaning back against the wall. "People are waiting, and Shikamaru's probably sick of stalling."

Naruto looked down at the sheet of paper. "But I haven't practiced everything yet!"

Ino gave him a punch on the arm. "Dude, you're the reason for the phrase 'talk no jutsu'. You don't even need a manuscript!"

Lee suddenly felt obligated to chime in. Despite feeling a little awkward having almost potentially had success with Sakura, he needed to get Naruto up on stage. Partly for the sake of the ceremony, and partly because he needed time alone with her. There was something about Naruto being there that was slowly sapping his confidence. He just couldn't put his finger on what it was.

"She's right, Naruto-san," he said. "You are quite skilled with words. You don't need a sheet of paper, or any rehearsal. Just get out there and go sell it!"

The three looked over, seemingly surprised by Lee's sudden enthusiasm.

Naruto smiled. "Thanks, Lee." Then, he looked down at the paper. "Guess I won't be needing this. But, if I screw up, it's all on you guys."

Lee watched him fold up the paper and rip it. Sakura opened her hand. He leaned over and, with gusto, dropped the pieces into it.

"Very good," Sakura said.

Naruto looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Wish me luck."

She met his eyes, and at this, Lee suddenly felt uncomfortable. He felt like he was looking through a window at a scene in a house he was locked out of. He looked over at Ino. She was smiling and watching them.

"You don't need it," Sakura said.

With that, the Hokage grinned and climbed up onto the stage. A moment later, Lee heard loud cheering and Shikamaru saying, "Geez, about time."

Ino grabbed Sakura's arm. "Come on, let's go watch from the front!"

"Wait," Sakura said. She looked to Lee. "Lee, sorry about the interruption. What was it you wanted to ask me?"

"Huh?" Lee said. "Oh, um…"

For some reason, he felt hesitant. Maybe it was the fact that he kind of wanted to hear Naruto's speech, or maybe it was the way TenTen had slid her eyes downcast before. Maybe it was the fact that he felt like an outsider when Sakura had run her eyes over Naruto's face as he set the pieces of paper in her hand. There was a part of him that felt like he'd already been rejected, even though he hadn't asked.

"It's nothing, Sakura-san. Don't worry about it."

She looked confused. "You sure?"

"Positive."

She shrugged. Ino took the initiative and steered her around the stage toward the front. "Come on, Lee!" she said, waving her hand. "We can probably squeeze into the front!"

Lee stood silent for a moment. He eyed the roses, which were now tattered from having been dropped a few times.

"Actually, I'll meet up with you later. I kind of...want to just listen. Not watch."

For a second, Ino looked confused. Then, she shrugged. "Suit yourself."

The two girls quickly turned the corner.

Something in Lee felt a little off. He'd been so confident about asking Sakura for weeks now. Yet, now, he felt like there was nothing to ask. He felt like he needed to air himself out behind the stage and listen to the speech rather than watch.

_What the hell is up with me? _he thought.

The image of TenTen's face appeared in his mind.

_"'Oh, well, okay. We'll be here.'" _

Why couldn't he shake that from his mind?

It was then that Naruto started to speak.

"Hey, guys," he said into the microphone. "You all look great today. Nothing better than wearing long black clothes on a hot day, right?"

Lee heard the crowd laugh and groan in affirmation. He could almost picture the Hokage grinning at that.

"Well, it's that time of the year where I'm supposed to give a well written, thoroughly rehearsed speech to a giant crowd," Naruto went on. "Luckily, I think we have the giant crowd part down."

As he said that, the crowd cheered. Lee heard the Hokage laugh.

"As for the speech...ya know, I'm gonna be honest. I didn't write one. I tried, but you know how it is. You push it off and push it off, and eventually, you just end up winging it. Well that's what I'm doing now. It's lazy, yeah. But it's also genuine, and I feel like you guys deserve to hear meaningful words, rather than pre written ones. That's really the only way to do these, I think," he continued. "Because, come on. Who really wants to get up out of bed, get all nice and dressed up for a ceremony, only to listen to some guy like me blabber on and on about words he wouldn't even mean? That's crazy and dumb. I want you guys to listen to what I have to say and know that I mean it, out of respect for you and for the deceased. I think I owe that much to you."

Lee closed his eyes and listened.

_Hey, at least he's honest,_ he thought.

From that point on, as Naruto spoke, Lee couldn't help but lose all thought. Though they were unsophisticated, the words fell from the Hokage's mouth as if pulled by gravity. The more dense the word, the heavier it fell upon the ears of the crowd and the stronger the impact. It was like the world began to flow with Naruto's speech. He talked about bravery, stealth, strength, and heart, and how none of those would matter unless there were those to exhibit them. He talked about Jiraiya and Minato, Kushina and Nara Shikkaku, IYamanaka noichi and Obito, and all the unnamed. He talked about memory, dignity, dreams and wishes. And with that, Lee forgot about Sakura, about how he'd dressed up wrong for this event, about all his previous doubts and troubles. Images of Neji and other fallen came to Lee's mind, and it was then that an overwhelming feeling of guilt hit him like a truck. It dawned on him that he hadn't thought about his dead teammate once today until now.

He looked down at the flowers in his hands. He felt suddenly sick.

"How did I not think about you on this day? She'd even said..."

'_What's with the roses? Neji likes daisies, remember?'_

"Oh...oh_ Kami, _am I_ terrible."_

Minutes that felt like seconds passed as Naruto talked. And then it was over.

The cemetery audience erupted in cheers and hollers as Lee felt his body shudder.

Within seconds, the Naruto slid out from the back stage door and landed next to Lee. He sighed and wiped his brow. "Yeesh," he said, putting his hands on his hips. "That was stressful as shit."

Lee could barely hear him over the screaming audience. And his head, which was pounding with guilt.

Naruto smiled at the ground. "I almost feel like I can hear the guys in the ground clapping too. It's a pretty cool thing."

Then, he walked off, with his black cloak especially worn for this day flying behind him.

* * *

A couple minutes passed before Lee shakily stood up. The crowd was chattering as they headed home to get ready for the Fireworks, but Lee loitered. A good hour passed as families and loved ones stood by graves, cried, and prayed. After most of the mourners had come and gone, Lee maneuvered his way among the gravestones, looking for the ones that read "Hyuuga". He knelt down at one made of marble and he set down his flowers on the soil in front of it. He wasn't too religious, but he said a prayer.

A shadow appeared on the stone as Lee felt a figure step up behind him.

"I came to his stone already this morning. It was a lot easier to deal with, because there's hardly any people who come at sunrise."

Lee turned to see a pale looking TenTen, looking at the gravestone. She had mascara running down her face.

"I still cried, though," she said. "Figures. I thought I was a pretty tough girl, but I cried like a baby during that speech. Everyone did. Damn, Naruto really does know how to tug on you."

She crossed her legs and plopped down next to him.

"You're not crying," she said, looking at him. "That's weird for you."

He kept his eyes on the gravestone.

"I'm more ashamed than sad," he responded.

He felt her eyes on him, prying him for elaboration. He sighed.

"TenTen-san, I'm a horrible person."

"Yeah, you are."

"Thanks for that."

"You said it, not me," she said, looking at the grass. "Come on, you're not a horrible person. Do you suck? Yeah. But you aren't horrible."

She looked at him with a small smile.

Lee furrowed his eyebrows. "I had completely forgotten about Neji on the day of the Fireworks. The whole point of the day was to _remember the dead shinobi! _Neji was my best friend! And all I cared about was...I mean, what the hell is wrong with me?"

He felt tears rise up.

TenTen moved her eyes to the flowers on Neji's grave. "You were...preoccupied with other things. But, what matters is that you remembered him eventually. And given that you gave the flowers to Neji and not Sakura in the end...it shows where your heart lies. It's with your team. Your family. And, that's nothing to be ashamed of, you idiot."

Lee looked over at TenTen's face, which was frozen in an expression tied between thoughtfulness and sadness, and as he did, he decided to ask.

"Why did you look away earlier?"

She stared at the stone. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know, when you-"

"Idiot, I know what you're talking about. Geez."

She glared over at him. He thought for a second she was gonna beat him up right here on Neji's grave. But, then, he saw her features soften.

"Look if you tell anyone this, I'll skewer your lanky body with shuriken," she said.

"I wont, TenTen-san!"

She puffed out her lip.

"I've...I've never been asked out. I've never been to an event with a guy. Most people don't seem to know I exist except you, Neji, and Gai. And one of them is dead and the other is insane."

Lee continued to stare at her. She glanced at the flowers again.

"I...I just wanted to get asked to the Fireworks this year, okay? I actually would've asked a guy myself...I...I planned to ask you to be honest...you're always around and we're friends. But then I heard Sakura's name and I just got a little down. That's it and that's all."

Lee looked at her. "TenTen-san..."

She gagged. "Crimeny, Lee, don't say my name like that! I'm not a sap!"

It only took Lee a moment to make his next decision. With a smile, he leaned forward, plucking a lone rose from the bouquet on the grave and tossing it into TenTen's lap. Startled, she picked it up and gave him a confused look.

"Why are you throwing flowers at me? I already feel stupid. The last thing I need is things being thrown at me."

Lee suddenly got bright red as he looked over at her. Not knowing how to make this work, he bent his torso forward and bowed down on his knees. With his face practically in the grass, he yelled it.

"I know this is inconvenient timing! And I know this is weird for us, especially you! But please….go to the Fireworks with me tonight!"

At that, TenTen dropped the flower.

"What...what the...? But…y-you...I just..."

There was a pause. Lee kept his face buried in the grass.

_Friends going to the Fireworks?_ he thought._ That's...kind of weird. Oh well. I guess she is decently attractive-_

"Eh, what the hell," she said, as she whacked him in the head. "I am second choice, but I might as well. At least I'll look good."

Lee whipped up, his face suddenly scarlet. "W-wait….seriously?"

"Why would I fake it?" she reasoned. "That's too much work. Geez, idiot."

_Holy shit, I'm going to the Fireworks,_ he thought._ With...TenTen-san?_

"O-ok. I'll be by to get you at eight."

"Mm. 'Kay. See ya then."

Lee looked at her as she walked away. He felt a weird, fluttery feeling creep up into his chest.

"We'll go...as friends," he said aloud.

Little did he know that she, as she stalked across the graveyard back to the town, was feeling the same sensation, accompanied by a face as hot as the sun that shined over their heads.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey y'all! Sorry it took so long to update! College is kind of a grind sometimes, so it's hard to find time to write! Nonetheless, here's my newest chapter. It is by far the longest chapter I've written, but fear not, because a lot of it is dialogue. **

**In Kishimoto's series, I've never really been that fond of how Hinata was portrayed, so I kind of wanted to work with her and see if I could bring out parts of her character that highlight how great she really is. She can live without Naruto, and Kishimoto never really showcased that. I like that part of her. I also really like Kiba and Ino as characters, so I played with them a little bit in here. As always, please give me feedback! I love it!**

* * *

Chapter 9

Hinata felt hot. Hot as in physically warm, not as in stupendously attractive. Although, she had to admit, she didn't look half bad.

Her eyes met the eyes of her reflection as she stared into her closet mirror, running her right hand over her hair and fanning herself with her left. Never once in her life had she dreamt she'd be doing this. She glanced about her outfit, a flowy, lavender kimono with white and silver daisies. Her midnight hair was twirled into an elegant up do, and she'd added a silver hairpin because she thought it looked nice. She saw a look of approval cross her face. _This is the best it'll probably get_, she thought.

The night of the Fireworks, in Hinata's opinion, was the prettiest night of the year. Konoha's buildings were strung up with lights, everyone was always smiling, and everyone looked gorgeous in their outfits. The woods were lit up with lanterns and there were shows, games, and music. It was a tradition, her relatives had always told her, celebrating the strength of the ninja who defended the village as well as the freedom and good fortune the village had been blessed with for generations. Normally, Hinata spent this night sitting in her yard with her family or watching the grand finale from the comfort of her bedroom. Actually seeing the fireworks finale up close had always been out of the question, because she never went to the event. Nobody had ever asked her.

The fireworks themselves had always been a magical thing. Hinata always pictured them exploding in a giant snowglobe, like some kind of scene she could always watch from afar but never actually experience. The colors mesmerized her so much that sometimes, when she'd been little, she'd pulled out her brushes and had painted them. Neji had used to always make fun of her, but one summer, he'd told her something that had stuck with her. "It's a symbol of freedom," he had said, and the way he'd looked at the bursting colors made Hinata think that, at some point, Neji had probably wanted to be free. From what, she didn't know. She'd never known. All she knew was that those fireworks had meant a lot. And they still did.

Therefore, tonight was a special night, because, this year, she _had _been given the opportunity to see the fireworks up close. She had gotten asked. This year's celebration was different in that she, Hyuuga Hinata, was going with a date.

That is, if you could really call Kiba a date.

Hinata was 95% sure that Ino had put him up to it. She knew that Kiba, despite probably being her closest male friend, had never had interest in dressing up for the Fireworks. He'd always preferred to go casually, finding a random girl along the way and taking her out for the night with Akamaru functioning as wingman. Yet, this year, something had convinced him to ask Hinata. And here he was, her date to the Fireworks. And he was coming in a few minutes.

"Pretty."

Her eyes flicked to her doorway, but upon seeing her father, she forced them to the ground. His frown reminded her of a giant rainbow, minus all the happy colors. His forehead was creased with age and apprehension. She continued to stroke the elaborate braid that lined her head.

"Thanks, Oto-san."

Getting ready to go had almost made her forget. Things had been uncomfortable all day, which was weird for Hinata, because this was the first fight she'd ever had with anyone, let alone with her father. She eyed him in the mirror. He was looking at the floor, as if the carpet was particularly interesting today. She saw his mouth move, but what he was saying was practically inaudible.

"I met your mother at the Fireworks."

Hinata kept her eyes on her elegant braid, trying to spot a flaw in it, so she could pretend to be preoccupied with something. "I know, Oto-san," she said. "You've said this before."

Normally, a comment like that asked for punishment. She'd been taught growing up that you always regard your father's words as being incredibly important, no matter how irrelevant you found them to be. However, she didn't want to hear a lecture on manners, and her father didn't seem to want to give one.

"I just wanted to tell you that this night is an extremely romantic night," he said hesitantly, like a rodent creeping through a woods lined with bear traps. "You may meet the love of your life tonight, as I did. But the hormones, especially with males your age, are raging. Don't let your date do anything that-"

"Don't worry. I've known Kiba-kun for years. He's a good person, and there's nothing between us."

"Hinata," he said sternly. "You've become quite a sight. And that boy, he's not unattractive either. I just want to stress that-"

"Oto-san, _please_."

He stopped, taken aback, and all there was to be heard was the sound of silence radiating through the room like the ring of a gong. Then, came the sound of a doorbell. Kiba was early, lucky for her. She felt her father's eyes follow her as she grabbed her things and pushed past him to head toward the door. She skirted through the house, trying not to trip and trying not to cry.

* * *

Kiba had a skeptical expression the moment she quickly opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. She wondered if he could somehow have heard her father and her talking. At that moment, the setting sun had almost submerged itself behind the horizon, and it worked as a beautiful backdrop for Kiba in his black suit. Akamaru sat by his side, tail wagging. She leaned forward to pat him on the head.

Her date's eyes widened.

"You look…stunning."

Hinata upturned her lips the best she could muster.

"Thanks, Kiba-kun."

She'd waited forever to hear that. She'd always hoped it would've been from a particular person, but…after what had happened between her and Naruto a couple days ago, there was no chance of that ever happening. "I'm…sorry, Hinata" had been his words. Konoha's current Hokage had been the reason for the fight between her and her father.

Kiba continued to look at her, his expression sympathetic. She figured that he was concerned about her again. She had gone through emotional hell this week, and she hoped it wasn't all over her face. But, he said nothing about it, instead holding out his arm. "Ready to go?" he asked, and when she looked up at him questioningly, he spazzed. "What? Aren't dates supposed to do this?"

She smiled, pretending she hasn't just been on the verge of crying only moments ago, and gingerly stuck her arm through his.

He looked around. "Alright, which way to Ino's?"

* * *

Kiba had asked her yesterday. She'd been completely surprised when she'd opened her front door to see that he'd strolled there, Akamaru at his heel, only to ask, "Yo, Fireworks? Please, come with me."

Without a second thought, she'd said yes. Out of…desperation? Kindness? Actual excitement? Hinata didn't know why she'd agreed so quickly. Her family members, all but her father, had commented on her rash decision.

_"__Hinata and…is that the dog boy?"_

_"__Look at her…growing up!"_

_"__Be careful with him, dearie. He's a bit of a rebel."_

_"__Hinata-hime, make sure he uses a condom. We have enough family members."_

It had gone on like that for a while, because they were all sure there was something going on between her and Kiba. She couldn't really deny that her family had reason to be suspicious. Her friend _was_ extremely attractive. He'd grown to become tall and muscular, with tan skin, dark, wavy hair, and brown, wolf-like eyes that made a lot of girls swoon. He also had nice bone structure, had become a strong ninja, and was funny to boot. Perhaps it was his "bad boy" appearance and his roughness that made her family uneasy. However, Kiba had always taken care of her like a brother, ever since they'd both been placed on Team 8 together. On many occasions, especially lately, she liked to confide in him. But, he didn't like her like that, she didn't think. And, if her family members would've been able to see inside her head, and see that many of her thoughts were occupied with the wide, whiskered smiles and the bright, blue eyes of another man, they'd know there was nothing with Kiba to worry about.

She did really owe him, though. When he wasn't playing competitive fetch with Akamaru or eating like a slob, he could be quite a gentleman. She knew he hated sophistication of any kind, yet she found it sweet that he'd tried to be clean and respectful for tonight. It was obvious he was putting in quite the effort, as there had been many times where he'd already held back from scratching himself or from complaining about his outfit. It was a black suit, fashioned to look almost like a warrior's uniform, while still looking like a tux. The torso had incredibly large and roomy pockets, yet it still worked. Hinata didn't know who the designer was, but, she owed that person a compliment. It was a very nice looking suit.

"This the place?" Kiba asked, drawing Hinata's eyes to the building in front of them.

"Mm," she affirmed.

He stepped up onto the porch and knocked. A millisecond later, the door opened a crack. Ino's eye peeked through.

"Is it just you two?" she whispered.

Kiba crossed his arms. "No, I got Chouji in my pocket," he said loudly. "What do you think? You didn't invite anybody else!"

The door whipped open and Kiba, Hinata, and Akamaru were yanked into the house. Then, the door slammed.

"Kiba!" Ino yelled, peeking out one of her windows to make sure no one was seeing her reddened face. "Idiot! Why did you have to say that so loudly?"

"You're fine," he said. "Calm down already."

Ino scowled. But, her frown melted when she laid eyes on Hinata.

"Oh, wow," she said, eyes wide.

She walked around her, studying her outfit. She bent to the side to examine the sleeves. Then, she looked up at Hinata's face.

"It matches your eyes beautifully. And your hair…_wow_."

Hinata wasn't used to this. In her opinion, she would never be as pretty as Ino, who looked like a supermodel in her turquoise kimono with pink and silver roses. There was a giant stitch line straight down the back, but other than that, the kimono looked brand new.

_Sakura-san must've worked on it, _she thought.

"Ino-san, your kimono—"

"Shh, I don't need compliments, especially when _you _look like _this," _she said. "She makes you look like crap, Kiba."

"Hey!" he protested.

"This is just…" Ino mumbled. Then, "Oi! Sakura!"

In one of the other rooms came a "What _now, _Ino?"

"Tch, it's not me! Hinata and Kiba are here and she looks…well, come and see!"

Hinata felt herself start to panic. If she was honest, she'd never really known what to think of Sakura since the war three years ago. She had been a war hero, the one who had assisted in pummeling the Juubi with her Strength of A Hundred and whose medical finesse had saved thousands of lives. She'd summoned slugs the size of houses. The hospital had been flourishing since then, allowing for Sakura to have incredible success with her job. All that, to Hinata, was intimidating.

And, her feelings regarding Sakura had been _especially_ muddled lately, ever since…

"_There's someone else. Someone…I don't think I'll ever get over."_

Those words she'd heard only a couple days ago sounded completely fresh in her mind. Sakura not only was a war hero, but she was…to _him_, she was…

Hinata dropped all thought as Sakura stepped out of Ino's bedroom. However, the person who emerged looked nothing like the warrior who'd fought so hard for Konoha. The sleepy, annoyed looking girl carried a giant textbook and looked more like a grumbling teen than one of the saviors of the village. Instead of her battle vest and ninja attire, she wore a roomy T-shirt and black pants, with her light hair in a lazy ponytail that draped over her shoulder. The diamond, however, still looked as radiant as always on her slightly large forehead.

"What did you say?" she asked, scratching her ear. "I already told you I—"

She stopped in her tracks.

"Wow," she said, eyes wide. "Hinata, you look…absolutely beautiful."

Her compliment, while is should've been flattering, left Hinata feeling a little weird.

"Th-thanks, Sakura-san."

Sakura's green eyes lingered on Hinata for a moment, who was becoming increasingly uncomfortable under her gaze. Then, her eyes flicked to Kiba. "Ohayo, Kiba," she said. She raised her hand in a wave, while the other one held "The Guide to Incisions and Anatomical Splinting". "You look handsome as well. As does Akamaru."

Akamaru barked with glee and Kiba shrugged. "Thanks, Sakura."

Sakura nodded, looking at Hinata again. Internally, Hinata squirmed.

Ino grabbed her purse off the counter, pulling it over her shoulder and whipping out a compact mirror. She dabbed at her eye makeup. "Does it look all right?" she asked to no one in particular.

"Aye," Sakura said, shaking her head. "You look hot. You normally do, as much as I hate it."

Ino looked at her friend gratefully. "Thanks, bitch."

"No problem."

With that, Sakura collapsed on the couch. She opened her textbook and began to read, twirling her fingers in her hair as she did so. Ino turned and opened the door, letting a warm gust of air into the room. Kiba put his hand on Hinata's back and ushered her forward. As they walked out onto the porch, Hinata heard Ino turn.

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" she asked. "It would be a blast, and we could get you ready quick."

"Nah, I'm okay," Sakura said. "Thanks."

"Okay," Ino said, trying not to sound a little disappointed. "See ya."

"Yep."

The door shut as Ino, Kiba, Akamaru and Hinata made their way down the porch steps.

"Weird that she doesn't want to go, don't ya think?" Ino asked.

"Eh," Kiba said. "Girls are weird in general."

They followed the crowds, heading toward the center of town. As they walked, it rang in Hinata's head.

_"__Hinata, you look…absolutely beautiful."_

_Huh_, Hinata thought.

* * *

Just as it usually was on this night, the town was completely packed. Thousands of people roamed the streets, all dressed in flashy kimonos and black outfits like Kiba's. Lights of pink, green, and orange lit up the night, and there were carnival games, all you can eat buffets, and entertainers doing their thing. Hinata suddenly wished she had gone every year. It was spectacular.

Meanwhile, Ino was lecturing.

"Remember, confidence is sexy," she went on. "You've been confident lately, so you need to keep it up! Hinata, if you combine your appearance and your confidence, you'll stand out even more than these lights. Isn't that right, Kiba?"

Kiba was looking around. "Uh, yeah. Sure."

"You didn't even hear what I said."

"I'm hungry as hell," he said, sniffing the air.

Akamaru barked in agreement.

So, they stopped for food. The ramen restaurants were packed tonight, so they headed into a Hanaraku's Bar and Grill. After being seated, Kiba hungrily scanned the menu with Akamaru leaning over his shoulder, mouth watering. Ino strolled up to the bartender, and Hinata occupied herself by playing with the tablecloth. On occasion, she would lift her eyes and look around. The tables were taken by people of every age. Grandparents sat with their grandkids, prepubescent boys sat together discussing sports, and there was a family of five having a small argument.

But, to Hinata, the nearest table was the most captivating. It seated a young woman and her boyfriend, sharing a cupcake with one candle wedged into the frosting.

"Did you make a wish?" he asked softly.

"I already have everything I could want," she responded, smiling. "Our village is safe, and I…I have you, my love."

The man blushed, running his hands through his hair.

Hinata leaned on her hand, watching.

_"__My daughter, there are hundreds of young men that could love you well. Don't push them away."_

She shook her head quickly, hoping to push her father's words from her mind. The last thing she wanted to do is be reminded of what he had told her earlier today during their fight.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of water glasses being set on the table. She could hear Ino talking loudly over at the register.

"He's about yay height," she was saying, using her hand as an indicator. "And he's a pretty large guy. Spiky brown hair. Dorky face paint. Probably stopped by here and every other food place in this town."

The bartender said he didn't know what she was talking about. After Ino's overly dramatic groan, Hinata saw Kiba smile knowingly.

After that, they made their way through the town square. There, they ran into almost everyone they knew. They found TenTen and Lee, who were acting extremely awkward, even by Hinata's standards. She looked quite pretty in a light pink kimono, but Lee, in Hinata's opinion, looked very strange in the warrior's outfit. They saw Kurenai and her young son, Konohamaru and his friends, Sai, Shino, and a bunch of other people Hinata knew. They even saw Shikamaru, who'd been moving quickly through the crowd and apparently had had 'no time to talk', which Hinata found odd. At one point, they even passed Kakashi's house, which, for some reason, was stationed smack dab in the middle of Town Square. All the lights were turned off and the shades were closed. Hinata had never known that he lived there. She decided not to question why such a quiet guy lived in such a bustling area, and continued walking.

She kept her eyes peeled for Naruto, occasionally activating her Byakugan to see if he was in the vicinity. As much as her heart yearned to see him, she would not let that happen. Not after what had happened.

_No, _she thought. _Don't think about that right now._

Yet, Hinata's mind sometimes managed to get the best of her, and before she knew it she was thrown back two days in her memory, to the rushing waterfall and the woodsy backdrop that made his sky blue eyes stand out like sapphires in a cave. He'd been training,-for what, she didn't know- shirtless and wet from the rain. She'd clasped his hand in both of hers. She'd come clean. And so had he.

"_I'm…sorry, Hinata."_

Her memories evaporated as Kiba yelped excitedly.

"Is that what I think it is?"

Ino turned, and immediately frowned.

"_Oh, Kami-sama_."

Hinata squinted to see a group of benches surrounding a fountain. On each bench was a couple, each wrapped in each other's arms, kissing passionately.

"Make Out Fountain," Kiba said with a wolfish grin. "Ah, the memories."

Ino gagged. "Don't tell me you've done that. That's disgusting."

He smiled and flexed his shoulders. "Let's just say I've unleashed the beast over on-" he pointed to the most isolated bench, "-that bench before."

For a split second, Hinata felt her heart speed up. Her mind went back to her father. _The hormones, especially with males your age, are raging. _

She glanced up at her date in shock. Does this mean that he's had se-

"Don't shit me, Kiba," Ino said, crossing her arms. "We all know your 'beast' is tiny and that no girl has ever taken it. Nice try though."

Kiba's mouth dropped open, and for some reason, Akamaru imitated him.

"Savage," he said.

Hinata exhaled a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding.

Eventually, after steering as far away as humanly possible from Make Out Fountain, they eventually found some more fun activities. Ino insisted they do palm reading, but immediately became disgusted after being told she would die old and alone. They got into a photo booth and took crazy pictures, threw giant darts at balloons, bobbed for apples, tried to dance a little (Hinata felt she was very clumsy the whole time), ate giant meat legs, and tried some basic carnival games.

Then, Kiba said Hinata's name out of the blue.

She looked up. He was staring at one of the game stations. It was a ring and bottle game, and lining the stand were prizes like masks, fans, goldfish, toys, balls, and giant bears hung from hooks. On a pedestal in the back, was a an especially cute panda bear wearing a toy sized T-shirt and holding a lollipop.

"You're my date," he said.

"Yes," she responded.

He whipped out a couple coins from his pants pocket. "I'm gonna win you that panda bear."

Hinata looked closer at the bear. It was incredibly fuzzy, and its shirt said "PANDAZ 4DAYZ" on it. She figured it was some weird reference to something she had never heard of. She raised her eyebrows.

"Kiba-kun, you don't-"

"I want to show everyone how good I am at this game," he said. "Did you know that, when I was little, I won this game, like, eighty five thousand times?"

"Ooh, eighty five thousand?" Ino chimed in with a smirk. "Why didn't you go pro?"

"I'm serious! I won a lot!"

He went up to the counter, handing the coins to the guy running the game. Then, he was handed three rings.

"Try and get them around the bottle," the guy said.

"I know how it works," Kiba said cockily, and Hinata couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

The next ten minutes were depressing. Kiba's rings clanged off the bottle, one after the other. Then, he slammed coins on the table. Then, more clangs. More coins. More clangs. Then, after suffering utter defeat and humiliation, Ino stepped up.

She won a goldfish.

"Unbelievable!" Kiba complained. Akamaru put his paws over his face, as if humiliated for his owner.

"What am I gonna do with this?" Ino asked, frowning at the little fish. "I wanted the fan!"

"I never lose that game!" Kiba exclaimed. "And don't call the fish 'it'! It needs a name! How about Complete and Utter Disappointment?"

"I like Jr." Hinata said. Akamaru barked at that one.

"We'll call it Baka," Ino said. "Because, I feel like one for carrying this around."

"Alas," Kiba said. "Baka it is!"

Hinata, despite her emotional state, couldn't help but smile at the arrival of the little fish.

After that, they walked around for another hour and a half, stopping at checkpoints. She'd been noticing it for a while, but Hinata, despite the late hour, was feeling extremely alert. She hadn't stumbled in her shoes for a long time, and her eyes were unconsciously roving around, looking, keeping an eye out. No Naruto in sight. Good.

"Look!" Ino exclaimed, pointing. "They started construction!"

She was pointing up at Hokage Mountain, which loomed in the distance. Color changing spotlights stationed at the base shined brightly on the Hokages' rocky facial features. Next to Tsunade's face was a giant rock mess with ropes and other equipment hanging nearby.

"About time," Kiba said. "What has it been, like, three years? It's taken them forever to get his face up there."

Hinata gazed up at the rock where they were going to put the face of the new Hokage. His incredibly handsome face…

She wondered if he'd thought about her at all tonight.

Her father's voice thundered in her ears.

_"The Uzumaki boy. He's broken your heart."_

The waterfall appeared again. His startling blue eyes.

"_Naruto-kun…you…I love you."_

_"__I'm…sorry, Hinata."_

"Yeah," Kiba was saying. He put his fingers up in a square shape like a camera lens, and Akamaru, with his paws, tried to do the same. "Well, I hope it looks badass. It's not every day that your friend gets up on Hokage Mountain."

"Oh it'll look good," Ino said with a smirk. "Sakura has been pestering the shit out of Shikamaru on it. If he screws it up, he won't hear the end of it from her."

_Ah, _Hinata thought. _Sakura-san._

She felt something bubble inside her.

_Stop._

_"__Unreciprocated affections? My daughter deserves better than that. You deserve better than that!"_

_Stop! _

She grounded her teeth together. Tears sprang to her eyes.

_I cannot do this here, _she thought.

She really had been trying all night to have fun. She'd been able to shove it all to the side, at least, for a little while. Why did it have to all come flooding back now?

Without warning, a hand came to rest firmly on her back. She awoke from her thoughts only to lock eyes with Kiba's dark, concerned ones. She could practically hear his thoughts.

_Oi, you okay?_

She put on a smile. "I'm fine!"

_No, I'm probably not okay_, her thoughts moaned. _Naruto-kun…he's…I'm…_

Looking at her, Kiba furrowed his eyebrows. Hinata thought that, when he did that, he looked kind of like a puppy. Akamaru nuzzled her leg.

Ino ripped a map out of her purse. "Hey, guys," she said. "Is it okay if we check out the restaurant over on the south end? I have to pee and I wanna check if Chou-er, well, I have to pee."

Kiba looked up. "Okay! Let's do it."

His eyes had left her, but Hinata continued to feel the warmth of his hand on her back.

* * *

She knew she'd see him eventually. Despite her wants, the area was only so large, and she knew he had to be present. She just didn't expect to see him in Sushi-san's Sushi, mere moments after almost having cried in front of her friends.

He was bent down, helping one of the waitresses pick up the pieces of a broken dish. She was blushing intensely, stealing glances at him, as he smiled down at the pieces, probably telling a story. His hair swept across his forehead, slightly shading the eyes that Hinata found herself dreaming about on occasion. His white teeth glinted underneath the lanterns that were hung on the walls. As much as she had progressed over the years, she still found herself in awe of him. Her vocal chords failed her. That was good, though. Maybe he wouldn't see them.

Unfortunately, Ino's vocal chords worked just fine.

"_Na-ru-to_!" she yelled across the restaurant.

He whipped his head up, and a grin flashed across his face.

Hinata's stomach plummeted. She felt her palms sweat and she suddenly wished she'd not come at all. He made his way over, leaving the girl with a hand full of ceramic pieces and a red face.

"Guys!" he yelled. He carefully avoided a waiter, who carried a platter full of food.

When he got within about five feet of them, Hinata's insides caved and tumbled. She liked to think of herself as being levelheaded, thoughtful, and not at all rash. However, at that moment, all sense of security snapped. She couldn't bear to see him right now. Or worse, have him see her.

_"__I'm…sorry, Hinata."_

All the emotion she'd been holding in that hadn't already been dealt to her father during their fight this morning came together inside her to form one, big, black hole. She felt like she was getting sucked up. Seeing his eyes meet hers from a distance was painful. But his guilty expression the split second after was absolutely unbearable.

Ino called her name as she darted to the nearest bathroom. She didn't want to know if he had watched her go. She shoved open the door with a force that scared the person who was walking out. With a small "sorry" escaping her lips, she pushed into the nearest wooden stall and sat down with such force that she almost fell into the gigantic toilet.

The tears flowed like a rainstorm then. She'd been holding them in for a couple days, because nowadays she barely cried. She was a big girl! But, upon seeing his face, the dam holding her emotions had completely shattered. Croaking sounds escaped her throat, and she slammed a hand over her mouth to keep them in, in case anyone were to hear. For a second, it was silent except for the almost inaudible hiccupping sounds coming from her mouth.

_Why? _her thoughts cried. _Naruto-kun? Why, now?_

It was all she could process. She didn't even think about what he would think when she returned. She just knew that she'd _had _to get out of there. Away from him. Away from the humiliation.

She heard the bathroom door whip open and, for probably the first time in her life, she inwardly cursed. It felt weird, but she was ticked that someone had interrupted her. For a second, there was no noise again. Then, she heard Kiba's voice.

"Did you not notice the urinals?"

Hinata pulled her wet hands down from over her face. Her eyes widened.

_No way, _she thought. _Is this…?_

She heard him sigh loudly. "This is the men's bathroom, Hinata."

_Oh Kami-sama, _Hinata thought, as her stomach churned with embarrassment. How could she have been so stupid? Thinking back on it, she hadn't read the sign because she'd been in such a hurry to avoid Naruto.

She saw Kiba's feet right outside her stall. "This is ridiculous, Hinata," he said, kicking the door lightly.

She could picture his face. It was probably a look of complete exasperation.

"Open up."

Maybe she was too mentally drained, but she couldn't muster enough energy to reply or open the stall. Makeup smeared down her face, and that was the last thing she wanted people to see. Kiba would probably tease her about it and call her a clown.

"I'm okay, Kiba-kun."

He snorted. "If that were true, you wouldn't be in here right now. Hinata…I thought you were past this years ago! You're confident now, remember? You don't get nervous like this anymore, right? Of course, I don't really know why you're nervous…he isn't any different than he normally is…"

_Little do you know, Kiba-kun_, she thought.

There was a long period of silence. Hinata wondered if he would leave. She hoped he would. She wanted to be alone.

"Naruto left," Kiba said. "Said he had to go to a park to do something. Ino left too cuz she spotted Chouji walking past the restaurant. It was bound to happen anyway with her. The girl's nuts. Akamaru's guarding the door, because I don't want anyone seeing us alone together in the men's bathroom. The implications there are pretty bad."

He said it in the tone he used normally when he was trying to make someone laugh. Hinata had no chuckle, although she was immensely relieved that Naruto had left. She liked Ino's absence in this situation as well. Now all she needed was for Kiba to go.

However, it didn't seem he was going anywhere. One of his long, dreary sighs accompanied a swishing sound as something slid under the stall door and hit Hinata's feet.

It was the panda bear in the "PANDAZ 4DAYZ" T-shirt.

Hinata's eyes widened as she stared at the toy she'd seen on the game rack from earlier.

"Kiba-kun, wha-"

"I won it earlier when you weren't paying attention," he said. "I've been hiding it in these huge pockets. That awkward moment when this bulky suit comes in handy, right?"

She didn't know what to say. She was practically an adult, yet looking at the panda's smiling face caused for a warm, tingly feeling to enter her toes and work its way up through her chest and into the rest of her body. He'd tried so hard to win that for her, she realized. He'd been noticing her sadness the whole night, which put her at a loss for words.

"_You deserve the best. Chivalry and kindness, Hinata," _her father had said.

She wanted to thank Kiba, but she couldn't find her voice. She knew he knew, though. He always seemed to know. And because of that, she decided that he deserved to know what was currently causing her so much pain.

"Kiba-kun," she finally forced out. She thought she sounded like an old man when she talked. "I told him I loved him again."

The words seemed to bounce around the room, echoing off the walls and coming back at her with the force of a wrecking ball. She never should've done it. Nothing came from it but sadness for her. What had she been thinking?

"So, that's what that was," Kiba said. "And I'm assuming, judging by our current location, that he rejected you?"

It was a question, but Kiba said it like a statement. Hinata nodded, feeling tears rise and pour again. She realized he couldn't see her nodding, so she pushed noise through her throat to affirm it. "It didn't h-hurt this much the first time. I-I just had been focusing on saving him from that Akatsuki man."

"Pain, the bastard."

"He'd been in danger. I-I'd wanted to help him. And, it sort of just…came out. He never got back to me, so, a couple days ago, I'd decided to tell him again, almost four years later. I interrupted his training, but I wanted to know."

Kiba waited for her to continue. She felt the next words roll off her tongue like an avalanche.

"He loves someone else."

"Well, yeah," was all he responded with, and Hinata felt a twinge of annoyance at the comment. Had this all been completely obvious to everyone but her? Why hadn't everyone told her? She could've avoided the embarrassment!

"Nobody told me," she said, not un-accusingly.

She heard him shift into a sitting position. "You already knew."

The words struck her like a slap, but, nonetheless, they had a ring of something that seemed like truth.

"Is this what you and your dad were fighting about?" he asked. "When I came to get you, I saw your face. I knew you guys had fought or something like that. Was it just about Naruto? Or maybe…"

She didn't reply, forcing her eyes to the ground, even though he couldn't see her.

"….the suitors. Shit, are you _still_ rejecting them? _All of them?_"

Hinata gulped, suddenly feeling sick. Kiba had talked about this with her before, and had expressed his annoyance with her rejection of everyone that would come to court her. Some she would refuse to even see, knowing nothing about them. It's not that they weren't good men, but she'd been waiting for…

"I'm…not trying to," she said.

"Dammit, Hinata," he said, and she sensed anger in his voice, something she hadn't heard in his voice for a long time. The last time had been when he'd cursed Uchiha Obito after Neji's funeral. He was always very sweet and kind to her, but, right now, he was ticked.

"K-Kiba-kun, I—"

"No. I don't really give a shit about your excuses, okay? Because I don't like being the one who has to feel like shit for you when you go and feel hurt all the time because you're not happy, and a lot of times, you're unhappy because of your own choices. It sucks having to watch you sit in bathroom stalls crying your eyes out when you could help yourself feel better by just thinking rationally for once. So, please, just shut up and listen to me for a second. And actually listen, because I'm not good at speeches like Naruto is, so I may never be able to pull this off again."

Hinata was silent, as her hands clutching her thighs. She didn't like hearing him get angry, not at all.

She heard him inhale, and then exhale.

"Aren't you sick of all this shit?"

There was a period of silence, as Hinata waited for him to say more. There was nothing.

"Was... that your speech?" she mumbled, wiping water from her eyes. She was afraid he would blow up at her for interrupting him.

"Yep," he said. "That was it. Short and straight to the point. No need for me to talk-no-jutsu you on a night like tonight. It gets old after a while."

The question rolled through her mind, over and over.

Images flashed through her mind like a slideshow. Kid Naruto giving the ointment she'd given him to Sakura. Pain's Rinnegan staring into her soul. The flash of a sword and Naruto's cry. Sakura's hands on Hinata's chest, her pink eyebrows furrowed in concentration and sadness. Hinata's face in the dirt, after having tripped over her own feet. Neji's dying corpse. Naruto grabbing hands with the alliance. Her father, rubbing her back as she mourned her cousin. Akamaru nudging her leg at Neji's funeral. Ino passing her the ramen at Ichiraku's. Naruto pulling on his white cloak. His incredibly guilty and sad expression after she told him she loved him the second time.

_"__I'm sorry, Hinata."_

She felt tears trail down her cheeks, carrying black flecks of mascara in their current.

How dreadful it felt to realize that it had all been a waste of time. All the time she'd spent late into her nights thinking about him, waiting from him to one day acknowledge that she had always watched him, wanting him to succeed. He'd never paid enough attention to it, preoccupied with other things like…like what, exactly? She…didn't even know. What did his life even consist of? She saw glimpses on occasion, and she knew there was a lot with his team, and he was Hokage now, but…what else? Would Sakura know?

The tears stopped flowing. She slid her wet hands up to her forehead, staring down at the wooden floorboards. And it was while she stared at the largest knot in the floorboard closest to her feet that she came to the conclusion that she didn't know Naruto at all.

"_Naruto-kun…you…I love you."_

_"I'm...sorry, Hinata. __I…really don't think you do."_

He had said that to her. She had almost forgotten, because it had been just before she had gotten rejected.

_He didn't think I was telling the truth?_

No, she realized. It occurred to her that Naruto may have thought she was misunderstanding what she was feeling. Her thoughts about him…she had always thought they were because she was hopelessly in love with him. He seemed to think otherwise. Did she trust his judgment on this?

Hinata closed her eyes.

Of course she did. It was Naruto-kun, after all. Her…friend. Only her friend.

A dark side of her wondered if they were even that much. Being his friend would require her knowing him well. If she had known him, she never would've confessed because she would've known he'd reject her. She never would've made a fool of herself, grabbing his hand in an impulse to…feel love? Was she desperate for love? Did she just fantasize about Naruto because he had qualities she liked in a man? Was it possible that there were others that had the same qualities, qualities like bravery, selflessness, and determination? Why…why was she waiting for him when there were others, maybe even right in front of her, that had the same qualities _and _could love her, too?

She eyed the shadow of Kiba's feet on the floorboards. Her mind hadn't even touched the possibility that she could have a relationship with someone like Kiba, who had a lot of qualities similar to Naruto. But, did she want that? Did she need that? Heck, did she need a relationship right now at all?

Hinata pondered all this and then some. Her mind was a muddled mess and the bathroom was silent for a good five minutes as she thought. She didn't notice Kiba tapping his foot, like he normally does when he waits. She looked at the giant knot again, scaling its twists and curves with her eyes. A shuddery sigh much too large for her body escaped her, and as it fled her lungs, it took away some of the panic she had felt. She sat there for a while, just breathing, inhaling the scent of the musty, wooden stalls and the smell of freshly applied toilet cleaner.

_Naruto is just a man. He does not love me. I am okay. Here I am, alive and well. Naruto is in love with somebody else. I…_

_I will get over this. It's been going on too long._

"Kiba-kun, can you take me back home? I have…to apologize to…my father."

The words were out of her mouth before she could register them, but upon their exit, she knew that was what she wanted to do. She opened the wooden stall gingerly, to see Kiba standing in front of the urinals, smiling at her. His face was redder than normal, probably because he had gotten so mad earlier.

"I need to hear you say it."

Hinata looked to the ground. "I can't. I've never sworn bef-"

"Just do it. It's liberating."

She hesitated.

"I'm sick of this."

He grabbed her hand and held it above her head, trying to get her to pump her fist. "Sick of this _what?"_

She said it quietly, like it tasted bad. "I'm sick of this….sick of this…shit."

Kiba yelled in triumph, as he put his hand on her back and ushered her out of the bathroom. Akamaru started barking and jumping around, yapping at their legs. People in the restaurant looked around in annoyance as he led her, quickly, out of the restaurant before people could yell at Kiba for causing a ruckus. She knew he was going it to distract the crowds from Hinata's red, incredibly smudged face.

Kiba's infectious laugh echoed through the street. "You did it! You swore! I've never been so proud!"

Hinata felt a little dirty, but also better. She wiped her eyes as some leftover tears flowed from her face.

_Thank you, __Kiba-kun, _she thought.

* * *

They walked back to Hinata's house quietly. Kiba was watching his feet. Akamaru was trotting along. Hinata stared ahead, trying her best to contain her emotion.

_I am…sick of this…shit._

Even though she had sworn, she felt a certain…release inside her. She still felt sad, and she new getting over all this would take some time, but she knew that it would be okay. She also knew it would've been a lot worse had Kiba not followed her into the men's bathroom.

"I still can't believe I went into the men's bathroom," she mumbled, putting her head in her hands. She'd cleaned her face off with her fingers, but her muffled, teary voice lingered. She still sniffled once and a while.

"Yeah," Kiba said, giving her a sideways smile. "You're pretty much an idiot."

She clutched the panda bear, looking at its happy face. Then, she heard the sound of people cheering in the distance.

Kiba stopped in his tracks. "It's the finale," he said.

Hinata's eyes widened.

She'd completely forgotten about the whole reason she had wanted to come to the fireworks. She'd almost missed the main event.

"You've never seen this before, right?" Kiba asked.

She shook her head. Her eyes scanned the skies, looking for the show. After a few seconds, she impatiently activated her Byakugan, and immediately her vision zoomed in and caught every detail of the sky she was looking at.

"Where are they?" she asked.

Kiba put his hand on her shoulder. "It's better to watch them from a distance. You don't want to pay too much attention to one part, otherwise you'll miss the whole picture."

A cannon shot then, and Hinata deactivated her eyes in time to see sparkling streams of colors shoot into the sky with tremendous speed, forming arcs and spirals and rays. A kaleidoscope of colors popped and evaporated, forming of pictures in red, gold, green, pink, orange, and blue that sprawled like stars across the night sky. Some pictures looked like stars and spots and flowers, but others looked like warriors, throwing kicks and punches. The greatest was the Konoha leaf, which appeared during certain intervals. The firing cannons sounded like a chorus of drumbeats. It sounded kind of like a song.

And it was the most beautiful Hinata had seen in her whole life.

"It's a symbol of freedom," Kiba said.

_Freedom, _she thought.

And in that moment, she realized that she had never felt freer in her life. Her skin tingled with something she didn't understand. Her heart raced. Her body felt light.

She turned to Kiba.

"Kiba-kun…thank you."

_For everything,_ she thought.

He looked at her. Then, one of the most bashful, un-doglike smiles crossed his face.

"No problem, Hinata."

And for the first time that night, Hinata felt unafraid. And it was weird. But, it was long overdue.

And when she got to her house that night, she apologized to her father. She set the panda down on her nightstand, positioning it so it was comfortable. Then, she stared out her window at the smoke that still lingered in the sky. She still thought she could hear the cheering, even though the finale was done.

_"__Goodnight, Hinata."_

_"__Goodnight, Kiba-kun."_

For one of the first times that day, she really smiled. Eyes closed.


	10. Chapter 10

**Whoaaa, hey guys! Man, has it been a long time. It's been almost 11 months since I've submitted a chapter, and for that, I'm very sorry! My first year of college was pretty busy, so it really was hard finding time to write. But, I haven't forgotten about it, and I hope you haven't either! Thank you so much for all the reviews and support you guys have given this story. Things like that really give me incentive to keep writing. **

**There's a quick note I want to make before I start. I, for one, am not the best at writing and choreographing fight scenes. I don't always feel like I understand how abilities always work, so I try to keep that stuff out of the series as much as possible and instead focus on characters and things like that. That being said, there will be action in this story, but there are going to be a couple things I am NOT going to include:**

**1)****Anything Kaguya related. This includes the dimension switching, the SOTSP mythos, and all that ninja world origin stuff, as well has her existence as a character. It'll probably never be brought up, and I low key hated that aspect of the series, so I'm simply going to pretend that stuff never happened. The war was simply "resolved" by Naruto and Sasuke. That's it. No Kaguya BS. Again, how the war ended isn't really relevant to my story, but in case I get called out for getting stuff wrong in the future, I just want to say that I'm not unaware of her existence, but I'm eliminating her from the story, because I don't like her and I thought she was an atrocious character. ****J**

**2)****I am also excluding the God-tier power levels of Naruto and Sasuke for a few reasons. For one, I didn't like that the series became DBZ 2.0, demoting itself to a bunch of explosions and energy power reincarnation stuff. Just, no. To me, that was just Kishimoto's way of making Naruto and Sasuke strong enough to defeat a character he had to pull out his butt because he couldn't think of a way to beat Madara (sorry). I didn't like it, so I'm not writing it. Plus, it's hard to introduce and write a believable villain when your two main characters are OP as heck, because then you have to make this random villain that's even more OP as heck, and that isn't fun, easy, or believable. I will probably make the characters as powerful as they were before they got their reincarnation power boosts. That still puts Naruto at the right Hokage level, and it just makes writing this so much easier.**

**3)****The Kakashi sharingan stunt Kishi pulled that had the fandom more pissed than I've ever seen them will not be incorporated either (I believe it was like chapter 686 or something?). I've already written Kakashi not having a sharingan, so again, that's just how it's gonna be. I know this is cheating and I'm kind of nitpicking but, y'know, this is my story and I'm doing what I want with it. If you don't like it, that's fine! There are plenty of other stories to choose from!**

**4)****Also, in case this wasn't obvious, nothing from the Last, the epilogue, Gaiden, or Boruto happened either. Ugh, *shudders*.**

**5)****These are all decisions based off my OPINION, which is not fact, so please don't get offended! If you don't like these decisions, please don't read it!**

**That being said, please enjoy this portion! It's a big dialogue/info dump chapter, and it was really hard to write, PLUS and it's been a while, so I might be a little rusty! Just bear with it! Better stuff will be coming soon! And if you've forgotten things or don't remember, feel free to reread it! Thank you for the patience!**

* * *

Chapter 10

Iruka was antsy, which made sitting still on an unstable stool all the more difficult. One leg of the seat was shorter than the other, so he kept unintentionally slamming the shorter leg into the floor with a _thump!_ Normally, this would've annoyed him tremendously, but his mind was racing, and tears were threatening to flow, and those kinds of things tend to distract a person every now and again.

"There's no sense dwelling on it," Kakashi said from his spot by the window, as if reading his mind. "What's done is done."

"I just…"

But, Iruka had no words. How this could've happened was beyond him. Life in the village, since the war, had been relatively peaceful, and the naïve side of him had thought that maybe, just maybe, Naruto being Hokage would've provided the village with a state of peace, at least for a decade or so. Up until now, he'd been able to fool himself into believing that was a possibility, and at this he mentally cursed himself. He'd been _stupid_.

"I just want to know why, damn it. That's…that's what you're going to explain to me, right? You promised you would."

Kakashi'd house was dark, so it was hard to see the expression on the silver haired man's face. The light of the lone lantern in the room cascaded over his masked cheekbones, half lidded eyes, and crumpled eyebrows, and from this it appeared to Iruka that his friend was lost in thought. He didn't expect an answer to his question, and Kakashi didn't give him one. The two sat in silence, and the only sounds to be heard were the grinding of sandals against pavement, the muffled laughter, and cheering from the festival outside.

Within seconds, a knock sounded at the door, and it took about a millisecond for Kakashi to whip it open, usher Shikamaru inside, close it, and bolt it shut. The movement's swiftness caught Iruka off guard, but the Hokage's advisor didn't seem fazed. "Sorry I'm late," he said. "One could say I got caught up in the bustle of the festivities."

Kakashi glanced at the window, which was covered by the blinds. "You weren't followed, were you?"

He shook his head. "People love this festival. I'm boring in comparison."

It was a lighthearted joke, but there was a certain weight in his voice that indicated to Iruka that Shikamaru had come to deliver some very bad news. At this Iruka stood and looked to Kakashi, who jutted his thumb at the door at the corner of the room.

"Basement. Bring the body."

* * *

Lugging the giant corpse down the stairs made Iruka feel like they were committing a crime, rather than investigating one, and it didn't help that Kakashi's house possessed a lot of eerie qualities. Shikamaru carried the lantern, which made the shadows on the wall much more pronounced down in the dusty, spider infested basement. Boxes were everywhere. It looked like Kakashi had moved into his apartment, but decided never to unpack, so he threw everything down here in case he needed it.

They laid the corpse flat, with the head and chest facing upwards. Shikamaru set the lamp on the ground next to it and, without a second's hesitation, removed a few file folders from the pack slung over his shoulder. From his pack he pulled a small, green book. Kakashi knelt silently next to the body, and Iruka, feeling his fingers numb up at the ends, hesitantly followed suit. The three of them sat around the corpse like kids sat around a campfire.

There was a long, dreary pause. No one breathed. So much had happened in the last 24 hours, it was hard for Iruka to even formulate sentences. Luckily for him, he wasn't really going to be talking.

"Does Naruto know?" Kakashi asked.

Shikamaru's mouth tightened. "You've instructed me to keep this quiet, Sensei, and I've done just that. It's been difficult. We probably would have kept it from you too, Iruka, had you not been there with Kakashi. It's nothing personal, just a precaution…"

Despite his opposing feelings, Iruka bit his tongue and kept his mouth shut. If they thought it risky to tell him, fine. But Naruto? Iruka figured they probably had a good reason, of course. And the last thing that would help this situation would be doubting the decisions of those in charge. Still, it didn't sit well with him that something this big was being kept from the leader of the village, especially when someone so important to Naruto was involved.

"All right…" Iruka said. "Well, if you would be so kind as to elaborate, I would be grateful."

Shikamaru closed his eyes and exhaled. He looked calm, but there seemed to be something stirring beneath him.

"I suppose…we should start at the beginning," he said, fingering the binding of one of the file folders.

Iruka nodded. For a split second, he wondered if he really wanted to hear this. Would it be better being like everyone else, blissfully unaware of anything that could be wrong?

The advisor folded his hands and stared ahead. "Iruka-sensei, on a scale from one to ten, how safe do we make you feel?"

"We?"

"Naruto, myself. The current generation who runs the village."

"I mean… there's a reason you guys are in the positions you're in…"

"An indirect answer for a pretty direct question, I'm afraid."

Iruka frowned and glanced at Kakashi, who sat, silent. "Why are you-"

"I'm not trying to accuse you of thinking anything, Sensei," Shikamaru said. "The fact of the matter, though, is that while we're powerful and righteous, we _are_ young. Naruto, Sakura, and others such as myself who hold some of the high positions in this village lack the years that, say, someone like Kakashi or even you do. Surely, there are a significant amount of people who… feel that ninja as young and inexperienced as those of my generation are unfit to govern a village."

Iruka arched an eyebrow. "We went through three Shinobi wars before the most recent one, and they were all followed by periods of modification and healing. Sure, you guys might be a little young, but you've been doing all right so far. I…I don't see what posing me with this question achieves in this situation, other than the further delay of the elaboration I seek."

"As you wish," Shikamaru said, a little quieter. "I was rambling, again. One of my many bad habits."

The advisor put his hand on the ratty, green notebook that he'd brought with him. It was bent and torn, and the whole front cover looked like it would peel off any second. He also pulled out a file from the folder. A picture of a man's face was paper clipped to it. "As you know," he said, "The mass slaughter in Sunagakure that happened in March has been under investigation for months. I've taken an interest in it."

_Ah, _Iruka thought. _That._

"Surely, you remember this. It was all over the news," Shikamaru said, as he pointed to specific highlighted portions of the newspaper clipping attached to the file. "It's been called the Arakura Todoshi incident. A mere rice farmer, who was once employed as a shinobi, but then retired early. The man's daughter found his body in a well with his skull shattered and his spine snapped, according to this article. He apparently was still holding the katana with which he'd slaughtered almost fifty people at a newly developed shopping center an hour before."

Iruka nodded, remembering when this news had been released. It had truly been terrifying.

"It was devastating, as you remember," Shikamaru said. "It was the first real scare since the revamping of the Hidden Villages and since the war. Countless articles have been written on it, and you can find information on it almost anywhere."

Iruka kept nodding. _This isn't really news… _he thought.

"However," Shikamaru continued, and at this his voice started to change into the tone he normally uses when he wants to explain something in depth. "Through all my research, all the released footage and medical reports and news on it, there was something I still found odd, something that, in every article, was left unexplained. The wells, as you know, sit on the outskirts of the village, yet the shopping center is right in the town square. Why would someone who just killed so many people travel such a far distance away from the crime scene to commit suicide? Why not just slice your throat right at the shopping center and save yourself the trouble? The result would've been the same, and traveling so far would only give you more time to get arrested. Not that I'm the expert on discreet acts of terrorism, of course, but I felt something was amiss. And normally when I get a hunch like that…it's for a reason. So, using Temari's authority as sister of the Kazekage, she and I were able to safely enter the crime scene. I took this book with me."

He flipped to a page towards the back and slid the book over. Iruka trailed his eyes over the letters. It took him a second to realize that he couldn't read them at all.

_Shit, _he thought. _Such illegible handwriting…how am I supposed to tell him that, though?_

"Don't worry," Shikamaru said, with the slightest of smiles. "It's in code. You aren't supposed to understand it."

Sometimes, Iruka swore the guy could read minds. He felt his shoulders ease. "I see."

"When I was at the scene of the crime," the advisor said, "I took detailed notes on the body and the scenery, which are what I recorded at the top, there. It was hard from where I stood to see the body properly, so I ended up venturing down into the well, only…only to discover that the body in the well…wasn't a body at all, but a partially decomposed pile of bones wearing the same clothes the killer had, according to his daughter, been wearing when he was buried at his _funeral,_ five years prior."

It took Iruka a few seconds to process. Then,

"Wait, what?"

_A dead body committed that crime? _he thought. He eyed the corpse on the ground.

_That man's _body, of all people's…

Iruka swallowed. "Is that what-"

Shikamaru raised a finger, signaling for him to wait. "The media hadn't said anything about this, so the people of Sunagakure assumed that the old man had slaughtered people of his own will, only to cowardly take his own life soon after. The people were also outraged about the tarnishing of the well, which was essentially an oasis in that kind of environment. Going near the well became a sort of taboo, putting a lot of local families at risk for dehydration and death due to fear of infecting themselves with the blood of a killer. Since the man was dead, there was no justice to the fifty dead people, and it just became more and more of a ruckus. Sides started forming. Faith in Gaara and his cabinet started to be questioned, and it brought Sunagakure, which is a relatively peaceful place, the closest it's ever been to civil war."

"A...a pile of _bones_…"

"After gathering this information," Shikamaru said, pulling our more files from his folder and grabbing the notebook away from Iruka, "I informed Kakashi. I'd needed to talk to _someone, _after all. I decided to do some research. I looked into all sorts of events from the last three years that would maybe give me some sort of lead. After all, skeletons slaughtering people…that's something that shouldn't be taken lightly. I investigated murders, thefts, even drug deals, yet nothing really stood out. There was hardly anything. But then, I found one."

He slid a file over to Iruka. It was a newspaper clipping from ten years ago.

"It had been naïve of me to think that the only possible time this could've happened was in the last three years," Shikamaru said.

Iruka scanned the article.

_**February 25****th**_

_**Oldest Clan in Kumogakure Killed : Mr. Sharigaki to be Tried Next Week**_

_**Kumogakure investigators report that August 14****th****at 4:27 A.M., all members of Kurokai family, previously one of the most acclaimed clans in all of the 5 villages, were brutally murdered in their home. No traces of their bodies other than blood stains have been found. Mr. Sharigaki Riga, age 27, is deemed the primary suspect. Proper action will be taken. News reporter Shiki Roto also reports that…**_

"Red hair," Shikamaru said. "Olive skin, father of two, resided in Kumogakure and worked as an assistant to the Raikage. Completely favored by the public until one morning he was found on the floor of the Kurokai home, lying amidst ten dead bodies, all of whom were missing body parts. It was later revealed that he'd killed and _eaten_ parts of the entire Kurokai family in their sleep."

Iruka suddenly felt his dinner stir in his stomach. "Holy..."

The advisor nodded. "It hadn't even occurred to me that something like this could've happened around this time. I…we were just kids, after all. We hadn't a care in the world other than when our next meal was and when we were going to be old enough to enroll into the ninja academy."

He seemed to reminisce for a second, but then quickly snapped out of it.

"Anyway, the eldest Kurokai daughter was engaged to the son of another very powerful clan in Kumogakure. The death of that whole family by the hands of the Hokage's assistant caused uproar and diminished a lot of the trust between the Raikage's cabinet and the people. It was almost enough to cause rebellion, and it would've nearly had that effect had there not been further investigation on the body of the perpetrator."

The advisor slid another file over with the words TOP SECRET on it.

Iruka stared, perplexed. "How did you find thi-?"

"Shhh. Better not to ask."

Iruka opened the medical report.

"Medics from Kumogakure noticed absolutely no vital signs coming from Sharigaki," Shikamaru continued. "He never resisted, never even talked. After performing the proper tests, it was concluded that the body had been without blood flow for almost _two days _before the Kurokais were killed."

Iruka looked up again.

"_This_ was the second time I had come across this type of crime. I'd formed a hypothesis by this point, but I still felt like there wasn't enough evidence. This had only happened twice, years apart and in different villages. And…well, this brings me to…what you guys saw…"

Immediately, the atmosphere in the room changed, and Iruka had been so focused on listening to Shikamaru that he had almost forgotten Kakashi was in the room. He was sitting so quietly, with the intense, calculating expression he always had that almost allowed you to see the gears turning inside his silver head.

Shikamaru traced his brown eyes over the corpse lying on the ground. "For a long time, I thought there would be nothing. My research had come to null outside of the two instances I just told you about. I thought maybe what I'd been mulling over for some time would be, hopefully, false. But, then came…this, only two days ago. A third instance…one that hit far too close to home."

Iruka, after staring at the body for hours, suddenly found it hard to look. But how could you, after knowing what had become of one of your old friends? One of your old mentors?

"Jiraiya-sensei's corpse…," Shikamaru breathed, "…wearing an Akatsuki cloak with a bomb attached to his back. Moving as though he were alive, even though we all know he's been dead for almost four years."

Iruka's gut dropped, because there was a part of him that was hoping that that wasn't actually the body of that old man who'd fought so courageously for Konoha and who'd raised the one who now watched over the village like he'd been his own son. The old man who'd written perverted books and peeked into women's baths, yet never strayed in his devotion to the woman he loved after all those years. The old man that had filled the hearts of many with both hope for the new generation and undying respect for the old. Now, his corpse was barely recognizable, with his defining features eroded away from what seemed to be water, yet somehow maintaining the moldy skin and bone. Giant, circular holes shown on parts of his body, and Iruka figured that's how he must've died. Pierced and drowned, like a speared fish.

"Tsunade confirmed it was his body when I talked to her. She also took the cloak, and brought it to the forensics department for-"

"-How is she?" Iruka said abruptly. The woman was old, and she'd gone through a lot. The last thing she needed was to be…

Shikamaru shook his head. "Distraught. She could barely look at it. I'm told he did kind of…hold a special place in her heart later in life. The point is," he indicated the face of the body, whose skin had almost peeled away entirely, "he shouldn't be here. We weren't able to locate the body or determine his specific cause of death for years. He died courageously years ago, and we left him to his sleep. Now, the body, which should be long gone, has shown up, clothed in _this _and a bomb that was heading right into the heart of our village had Kakashi not been there to stop it."

The advisor paused and folded his hands in a way that made him look a lot like his father. He didn't look the least bit out of breath. Iruka, on the other hand, felt like he'd just gotten the wind knocked out of him.

"There were a few things I noticed about the body when I saw it," Kakashi said quietly, looking at the body like it was a dead puppy. "The first, was that it was noticeably composed. A man who perished four years ago should have nowhere near this much skin left, which means…someone probably dug the body out of wherever it was relatively soon after his death."

Iruka bit the inside of his cheek. The thought of anyone disrupting this man's body while it was laid to rest disgusted him. He noticed that Shikamaru looked equally repulsed. He did have a deceased father and a dead sensei, after all. Iruka figured this probably was affecting him immensely.

"The second was that he was light, which makes sense, since there is no blood flow and many parts of his body have rotted away. Even his fingernails…"

Iruka directed his brown eyes to Jiraiya's hands. They were, indeed, fingernail-less.

"And the third was that…his fighting style was different. It was nothing like I had ever seen. Jiraiya-sensei never once fought with a sword that I know of, yet he was masterfully wielding a katana. He would swipe one area, say, a shoulder, and the cut would actually form somewhere else, like the abdomen or the leg. It was…unlike anything I've ever seen, in terms of techniques."

"Fortunately," Shikamaru said, "Kakashi-sensei made it out in one piece. And you did as well, along with a whole town of people that would have been blown up had you both not been there. We were lucky. But, luck only lasts so long. I don't think it's a coincidence that there have been two recent terrorist attacks on the villages, both performed by people who are long dead. Both took place during one of our most unstable periods, post war reconstruction, and both would've succeeded in murdering innocents had we not had an attentive shinobi guarding the gates the other day."

"What about the first one?" Iruka asked. "The one that took place ten years ago."

"It was probably a test," Kakashi responded, "or maybe whoever is behind this had planned to perform these acts of terrorism earlier on but was unable to for some reason. Either way, these all have to be connected. This isn't the Edo-Tensei. I would've recognized it. That ability allowed for a bit of room for the corpse's original personality to take over. It also utilized the person's jutsu's. This…when Jiraiya was fighting me he was using a completely different technique, and he wasn't talking or responding to me in any way. To me, this signifies that this technique manually controls the bodies, as if they were zombies. Every action is under the command of the controller. It's like…a puppetmaster controlling puppets."

"Kakashi," Iruka said. "There…there was something your clone said to me that I keep thinking about."

The silver haired ninja listened intently.

"You said… 'this might be a distraction for something else…something worse'…."

"We already tightened security tenfold all throughout the perimeter of the village," Shikamaru assured him. "That was merely speculation on Kakashi's part. There may not have been any other purpose to that attack other than what was intended with the bomb, but in case there was, we have members of the ANBU as well as a few other trusted ninja on the lookout tonight."

"But still, if someone has snuck in…"

"Then, we'll catch them and torture them 'til they talk. Other than that, we have ninja scouring the village. Not that you'd need saving, but they'd keep you safe."

The advisor forced a reassuring smile. Iruka wanted to believe him.

_"__How safe do we make you feel?"_

He closed his eyes.

"Okay."

The musty air in the basement was starting to make everything feel claustrophobic. The lantern was starting to dim. It would probably be any minute until the fireworks would launch.

_All those people, enjoying the festival, not knowing anything, _Iruka thought. _All those people…that could've been killed if not for Kakashi._

Iruka was tired, and he felt kind of bad dragging these two down here to come clean with everything to him. He really didn't like being forceful. And he didn't like prying. But, he still had one question.

"Why haven't you two told anyone?" he asked quietly.

Shikamaru rubbed his forehead. The young man looked like he hadn't slept well in a long time. "I normally would advocate against keeping things like this from the public…but, we're in a fragile state right now. Coming out and broadcasting this would put everyone into disarray and get everyone scared, and that's the last thing we need right now. Plus, we think this kind of public unrest is one of the goals of whoever is behind these crimes, so there's be no purpose in helping him out by telling everyone. It's a risky decision, but it's what we've decided. We're going to come up with a plan of action as soon as this festival is over. It's a bit hard to do that with all the noise."

"Okay…"

He sounded so convincing. He really did. But, Iruka needed a little more.

"…We could tell Naruto," he said.

Shikamaru shifted and noticeably made eye contact with Kakashi. "After…after our village was nearly decimated using the corpse of his dead mentor…it would only make sense, wouldn't it?"

Iruka frowned. He could tell Shikamaru was having a really hard time keeping secrets from the Hokage. It was against his nature.

"Why didn't you tell him as soon as you had suspicions?"

"My suspicions weren't really that backed up," the advisor said, forcing whatever guilt he felt out of his voice and replacing it with the gruff sound of a man far too overworked for his age. "There'd be no purpose in worrying him over something that wasn't even a legitimate concern yet. You know how he gets when things like this happen. He'd go out of his way to help anyone, making rash and thoughtless decisions in the process. He's a great leader, but this is why he has advisors and a cabinet of people with him. To help with balance…"

Kakashi shifted in his chair. "Shikamaru."

The advisor was frowning at the ground a little too hard for that to be the only reason, Iruka figured.

"Is there something else?" he asked.

The advisor paused. Then, he exhaled.

"Yesterday, the forensics unit performed tests on the cloak Jiraiya's corpse was wearing. It was the only cloak like that we've seen in the last four years. I…figured it was just a fake, a replica of one of the originals that someone made. But, the results came back this morning…"

Iruka's heart started to tremor. "And?"

"It's… Sasuke's."

And with that, the tremoring turned to an all-out drumbeat in his chest.

"…Are…are you sure?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Positive. I'd always wanted to believe that the moment Sasuke left at the end of the war, that would be the last we would ever hear or see of him. I'd always hoped that would be the case, for our sake, and for Team 7's sanity. But these damn Uchihas, they can never not be the center of something."

"I don't think he did it," Kakashi said immediately.

Iruka looked at him.

"Huh," the advisor said. "Well, maybe he didn't. There's a chance that whoever is controlling all this shit just randomly came across this cloak and decided to use it. Of course, I don't know how someone can just 'find' one of these lying around on a rock or something. But, I guess you never know."

Iruka noticed that the man was trying hard to keep his comments about Sasuke to himself, especially around Kakashi. Still, his sarcasm slipped through.

Kakashi shook his head and kept his eyes on the ground. "Sasuke is a lot of things. He's prideful, arrogant, power hungry…but he's not someone who hides behind others to get things done. He would never use such an indirect approach to eradicate us. I don't even think that's his goal anymore."

Shikamaru cocked his head. "Regardless, it _is_ his cloak that was found. It matches all the samples of his DNA we have on record. Telling that to Naruto would be rough. I guess…now that we have that information, we might as well tell him. Because if Sasuke ends up as our enemy again, the only one who would be able to-"

"Sasuke isn't our enemy," Kakashi said. "Not anymore. Because of that, there isn't really a point to telling him, is there?"

The advisor looked like he wanted to retort again, but he held back. Iruka wasn't a fan of Sasuke either, but he wasn't about to fight Kakashi on this. If anyone knew where the Uchiha rogue stood, it would be the members of Team 7. He didn't quite get the attachment they had to him, but it was obvious that there was something special between all of them. Looking at Kakashi, it was evident that something important must've happened before Sasuke left them.

"Tch. Well, if you're sure…" Shikamaru said, casting a sideways glance at Kakashi. "…then, I guess I won't."

The advisor didn't look too comfortable, but the look didn't last long. He turned to Iruka.

"Well, Iruka-sensei, I guess that's about it. That's pretty much everything."

Iruka really had nothing to say at this point. His mind had just been bombarded with a boatload of information, all of which seemed to suggest that the world…the ninja world they'd fought so hard to preserve could potentially be…

The advisor stood up, file folder in hand. "I'll go about planning our next course of action as soon as I get back to my office tomorrow. I apologize again, Iruka, for not telling you or anyone sooner. It was…a safety precaution. Was it the right decision? Well, I've never known, and never will know. Sometimes, going with your gut is an easy way to eliminate stress. And sometimes, the gut can be wrong."

He walked up the stairs and then stopped at the door.

"And I appreciate your faith in my generation," he said. "My father….Asuma-sensei…Jiraiya-sensei…they all died trusting us with the future, so…I'm…I'm glad you feel safe."

Iruka then heard the door open and shut. And then, the fireworks went off.

* * *

Iruka had the pleasure of walking against the flow of the crowd on his way home. He mentally cursed himself for living in an apartment on the east side of town. And he'd been in that basement so long, he felt he'd been accustomed to the musty air. Fresh air felt strangely cold in his nostrils. The fireworks had just gone off, so there was the smell of smoke still there, as well.

"Oto-san, look!" came a voice, and he looked to the left to see a little girl and her father. The girl's facepaint was horribly smudged, and one of her plump, little hands held a big, red balloon. "The colors are magidal."

The father laughed. "Magidal? The word is 'magical', sweetie. And yeah, they are."

The two scooted away and got lost in the crowd. Iruka couldn't help but smile. He inhaled deeply, smoke and all. This was the smell of perseverance. How could he not want to protect this? This bliss and peace…it was something he had barely known his whole life. That small little girl would probably grow up to be a completely different person because of this peace. She'd probably be a happier person. And that was enough to keep Iruka fighting.

As he weaved through the crowd, he thought back to a few moments ago.

_"__Kakashi," Iruka asked, "what do you think about all this?" _

_The man paused for a moment. Then, he said"_

_"__Everyone, for the most part, has been able to keep a level head and stay positive about the fragile state of the ninja villages right now. All those people outside…they feel comfortable and happy tonight because of all the shinobi that have given their lives. They know that there are people out there who care enough to fight for them, and that gives them security. And that's all well and good. But, all it takes is for one thing to happen, one person to feel unsafe, and this peaceful façade we've been maintaining would crumble. And there is nothing scarier and more prone to thoughtless action than a scared crowd."_

_Iruka frowned._

_"__But…," the silver haired man said…_

"Iruka-sensei," a young boy behind him said. "Oi, Sensei!"

_"…__In Kumagakure, the faith in the Raikage was shaken, and the people started to fight among themselves. As we see now, it was restored…" _

"Huh?"

"Oi, Sensei! Are you deaf?"

"…_In Sunagakure, civil war almost broke out. As we can see, it was avoided…"_

Iruka turned. A smile broke out on his face.

"Raku?"

The boy puffed out his lip. He had big green eyes, and black hair that shined in the moonlight. "Sensei, I'm in your ninja academy class. You didn't even recognize me!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

_ "…__And here…well, it would seem as though whoever is plotting our demise avoided getting directly involved and tried to strike us by stirring up the people and planting doubt, so we would self-destruct by the hands of our own…"_

The boy stomped his foot. "How could you not remember me? You're my Sensei. You're supposed to be smart."

"Raku-kun, I teach a lot of kids, you have to remember that."

_"…__They thought that by using Jiraiya and Akastuki and a bomb, by essentially having us relive Pain's invasion which was one of our most traumatizing events, that they would be able to shake us…" _

"But, Sensei, I remembered you!"

Iruka stopped in the crowd. People pushed against him.

_They thought that by bringing these memories back, that they could get our people to riot, to combust and destroy themselves…"_

"Watch it, buddy."

"Hey, move please! We're trying to get home, sir."

_"…__We've avoided it, but we have to look ahead, which is something I've failed to do twice in the past…"_

Iruka stared at the boy, whose giant eyes were glimmering with tears.

"Raku-kun, where are your parents?" he asked.

The boy shook his head.

"I lost them earlier in this crowd, Sensei."

_"…__once with Obito and once with Sasuke…I regret it to this day…"_

His lip trembled. "Can you help me find them?"

"…_We have to be wise…"_

Iruka smiled and knelt, right in the middle of the crowd.

"Get on my shoulders, squirt."

"_…__Wisdom wins wars…"_

"Heh," Iruka said. "Kakashi's always right."

"Who?" the boy asked from up on his shoulders.

"A friend, Raku."

"Oh. You're weird, Sensei."

"Ehhh?"

"_And the wise choice is…"_

Iruka walked on, maneuvering through the crowd, with the boy digging his fingers in his hair as he scanned the crowds. "See them anywhere?" he asked.

"No…oh wait, yes!""

He pointed, as a young man and woman rushed over, looking incredibly relieved. Iruka took the boy off his shoulders as they wrapped their arms around their son.

"Thank you…thank you!" they said.

"_The wise choice is…"_

Iruka chuckled.

"Hey, anything for a future leader of the village."

"…._to trust them, no matter what happens…"_

The young couple smiled and tugged their son away.

"Thank you, Sensei!" he yelled. Then, he pointed over Iruka's head. "Ooh, Oto-san! Oka-san! It's Hokage mountain!"

Iruka turned around.

_" …__The new generation…they inherited the Will of Fire, after all. "_

"Damn this new generation, making us older folks look bad…."

He looked up at all the faces. The blemish on the far right would soon become Naruto's face.

_"__Iruka-sensei, how safe do we make you feel?"_

"It's all thanks to you, you little pest," he said, looking at the blemish.

He smiled.

Naruto's generation had kept them safe. And Iruka knew that they would again, no matter what.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello wonderful people! I actually got this chapter up surprisingly quick, considering my track record. This has been one of my favorite chapters to write so far. I feel like Sakura is often misinterpreted and thought to be an awful character when she is really just human like all of us. She has her weak moments, her lame moments, and her why-the-heck-did-you-do-that-seriously-what-were-you-thinking moments, like everyone one of us does. In this chapter, I tried my best to capture what I felt like would, realistically, be a character struggle for her when having to deal with her (not so subtly) budding feelings for Naruto post the war (I do believe these feelings are in character for Sakura as well. This may just be my interpretation of her but given that 98% of the manga pushes these two ending up together, I would like to think that there is some merit to this happening realistically with her character).**

**Anyway, I promise that soon the story will start to pick up. Just a note: This chapter along with the previous two are all happening _simultaneously. _If you notice, I timed the fireworks all to shoot off at the end, which means that they are all happening at around the same time. If you're confused, feel free to reread. A lot of things will be revealed soon. Thanks for all the support and positive feedback! Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 11

It took a while for Sakura to realize that, instead of enhancing her medical knowledge, she'd been staring at the pages of her textbook without actually comprehending the words on them for the last thirty minutes. She'd caught a few words, repeated them aloud, and then had written them down on a napkin for good measure. And for a while, she'd remembered them. Yet, right now, she couldn't seem to recall one.

Her eyebrows scrunched as she gingerly set down the book and leaned back into the couch cushions. Normally, she had no problem reading, especially when it came to her medical books. She found everything in them completely fascinating, and was constantly trying to come up with new antidotes and vaccines for incurable diseases, learning even more in depth explanations on the anatomy of the human body, and also looking into ways to improve her fighting techniques using her chakra. Although she would never reach the level of Naruto and Sasuke, she still felt she could improve. Her first step toward improvement had been to further research the human body, and by this point, she knew just about every anatomical term and could diagnose an illness in seconds. Yet, when it came to matters of the mind…

She shook her head.

I _must be hungry_.

In the back of her mind, she knew hunger wasn't the problem. She'd had a big dinner with her parents before they'd left for the Fireworks. She moved over to the fridge anyway.

_"__Aren't you going to go to the Fireworks, Sakura?" her mother asked. "You know how fun it is! Maybe you'll see your friends, or even better, meet your future husband!"_

_"__Tch," Sakura said, jabbing her chopstick aggressively into her food. "Again with the husband thing! I feel like every parent says that, especially girl's parents. Do you think every guy out there has parents who say that?"_

She really was sick of girls and their love problems. Girls talking about it, girls wanting it, girls aging and starting to get desperate…it all pissed her off, mainly because, for a large chunk of her life it was all she herself had thought about. And up until recently, she'd thought all that heart mess had been a thing of the past.

_Her mother looked startled. _

_Sakura sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm lucky I even have parents after all I've been through. I love you guys. Don't…don't hate me, Oka-san, but I think I'm going to stay in tonight. I have some remedies I want to read up on. And I've been to the Fireworks enough times."_

She really shouldn't complain, after all. Love problems were completely miniscule next to actual problems like starvation, death of a loved one, and stuff like that. She should be grateful that those are some of the biggest problems she's ever had. Outside of the giant war she'd barely survived, of course.

_Her mother put her hand to her forehead, like she was checking her own temperature. "Kizashi, please convince our daughter to go and have some fun. She needs it. She's stressed!"_

_Haruno Kizashi stuffed a giant piece of takoyaki in his mouth. "Fun is essential, dear!" he said between mouthfuls. "It's not bad to forget your job for a night and take a load off! As long as you, you know, don't completely forget you have a job…you do have to set a good example…"_

_"__Okay, so I'll read at Ino's while you guys take my pie to the Fireworks? Awesome! Thanks!"_

_"__Wait!" her mother said. "That's not what I-"_

_"__No-o-o problem honey!" her father exclaimed. "Mebuki, this takoyaki is really-"_

_"__You always let her have the easy way out!"_

Sakura whipped the door of the fridge open, and its contents, to her surprise, were completely uncleanly. Banana peels were slung over moldy cheeses, some liquid was dripping from the top shelf to the bottom, and...was that supposed to be chicken?

"What a piglet," she muttered. "Even TonTon herself would take better care of a fridge."

With a sour look, Sakura tossed the bad food and kicked the door shut. She looked around the kitchen, which was connected to Ino's slightly cluttered living room. "The Guide to Incisions and Anatomical Splinting" was wedged between the cushions of the sofa. There was a lit candle on Ino's sidetable, which Sakura had used for reading, and a few more around the house. But other than that, the house was dim. _"__My electricity bill is through the roof, and I have hardly any money anymore, damn it!" _Ino had said. "_So you'll need to use these candles until I can start affording stuff again! Sorry!"_

She didn't mind the minimal light, though. There was something nice about the peace that came with the lights being off at this time of night. The only downside was that it gave her a lot less to look at, and, therefore, a lot more to think about. And as her eyes adjusted, she began feeling progressively more uncomfortable. She squinted into the dark in confusion and ran her right hand over her left elbow.

_What is wrong with me tonight?_ she thought.

Her eyes set on the window ledge over Ino's sink.

_Ah_,_maybe it's too stuffy in here! That has to be it._

She quickly blew out the candles, immersing the house in total darkness. To avoid having to unlock the door, she hopped up on the window ledge and, with the grace of a rabbit, shot to the roof.

"Ah, that's better."

Immediately, she felt a sweet breeze glide across her skin. Her ponytail draped over her shoulder and swept around her face as she sat on the rough shingles. Her eyes met the surface of the moon that loomed above.

And what a big moon it was tonight. To Sakura, it looked like a giant pearl, like the ones on the necklace that her father had bought her mother on their anniversary this year. Halfheartedly, she wondered how far away it was. Then, she turned her eyes down to the village, where, in the distance, she could see the cluster of lit up buildings. Pink, orange, green, and red lights gilded the town with color. The faces on Hokage Mountain were all too visible with the spotlights shining on their expressions, illuminating all of their rocky features. All except for the newest one. Where his face should've been, there was only shadow.

"About time, Shikamaru," she said with a small smile.

She hadn't meant to annoy the advisor with those requests, of course. She knew he had a lot of stuff to handle, and dealing with a village during this type of fragile time…well, it couldn't be easy. She'd thought strolling into his office via the hole and giving him a nicely worded, grammatically correct note every now and then would be a nice way of letting him know. And sure enough, it had worked. Sakura could already see the top whisps of Naruto's hair coming in, as well as the angled rocks that made up his chin and jaw area. Still, it would be a while until it was finished, and looking as good as all the other faces on the mountain did in this stupendous lighting.

Sakura sighed. The Fireworks, honestly, looked beautiful. To her, Konoha looked like one of Sai's original masterpieces. And this view from the roof was… breathtaking.

This was it. This was what they'd protected in the war three years ago. The sounds of laughter, bells from games, and clapping that floated over the buildings of Konoha. The mosaic of colored yukatas that filled her vision as men and women of all ages meandered through the streets. The faces of their previous protectors that loomed over the town and that signified the existence of generations of people who wouldn't back down from a fight. This was it, and it was worth every second of all the pain and heartbreak she'd ever known.

Yet, taking all this in, Sakura still couldn't shake the discomfort she was feeling.

"_Come in here! She looks…well come and see!"_

She brought her hand to her elbow again. The breeze whisked her face.

_"__Hinata, you look…absolutely beautiful."_

She gritted her teeth, then, when she discovered herself doing so, stopped.

_"__I hate people who lie to themselves!"_

Something churned in her stomach.

No, she had a policy for things like this. Whenever there was something she didn't want to think about, she found it easier not to dwell on it. It was really wussy, but it had gotten her through a lot of stuff in the past.

"I was quite the idiot," she laughed a little crazily. "Sasuke can rot for all I care."

Of course, she didn't mean that. She'd surely gotten over her feelings for Sasuke after the last three years, but she did still care about him, as much as she hated it. After all he'd done and how much destruction he'd caused, he deserved to suffer, and she knew it. Yet, there was still a part of her that wanted him to be okay, that wanted to know what he was up to, and wanted to make sure that, no matter what, she, Naruto, and Kakashi wouldn't be forgotten by him. But, there was a chance that they weren't even important to him anymore. After losing to Naruto at the Valley of the End, he'd fled, most likely meeting up with Taka. Who knew where they were now?

"Coward."

She looked up at the mountain again, at the blob of dirt that had no resemblance to the face of the sixth Hokage. A faint chirping sounded somewhere nearby.

"I can already hear you saying it," she said softly. "'_He's not a coward, Sakura-chan. He's misunderstood, and he's my best friend_. You're too optimistic about people, idiot."

The chirping sounded again from the left, as a bird made itself visible among the shadows on the roof. It was an owl, and it stared at Sakura with its giant brown eyes. These guys never came around, even at night. They were always in the woods, looking for prey. She suddenly became really self-conscious about her habit of talking with herself.

"Don't judge me," she said, sternly, feeling stupider for talking to a bird but, at the same time, not really giving a shit. "I have a lot on my mind. I'm kind of a mess, in case you haven't noticed. Somehow I…."

She stared at the owl. The owl hooted.

"…I can't seem to ever make good decisions..."

Something above the owl's head caught her eye a couple blocks away. Her eyes lit up.

"Oh yeah, I forgot! Ino lives right by it!"

And in a flash, she bounded off the roof as the owl darted away in the opposite direction.

* * *

Sakura hopped over a tall black gate and landed on the freshly mowed lawn of Shippouha Kouen: The Park of Silver Leaves. She closed her eyes and inhaled the scent.

_This place…_

To her, it was one of the most beautiful places in Konoha, and it was only three years old. Naruto had created it as one of his first commands as Hokage in honor of all who had died protecting the village. It wasn't a flashy and loud place to gather like the Fireworks, but a place that was quiet and thought provoking. And tonight, it was barren. The only person there besides Sakura was Jiraiya. Or, at least, a giant statue of him.

In the middle of the small park stood a bronze statue of the Pervy Sage that hit about feet in height. He held a scroll and stood in a battle stance. Surrounding him were a bunch of bronze toads spitting geysers of water out of their mouths. The water ran, even at night. Written on the stones that surrounded the park were the names of all the known shinobi that had died in the wars past.

The park was normally lit up, but it wasn't tonight because of the Fireworks, so most everything was harder to see. She couldn't read the plaque next the statue, but she knew it said "In loving memory of Master Jiraiya, the legendary Toad Sage and Trainer of Heroes." And despite the lack of light, Sakura still was able to note the beautiful flowers surrounding the glen, the tidy pathways interwoven together, and the woodsy atmosphere that the park emitted even in the dark.

She sat down on the nearest bench and closed her eyes. She breathed in the scent of pine and elm.

"Sakura-chan?"

Her eyes shot open. She whipped her head around to meet…no one.

"Up here."

She looked up, and upon doing so spotted his white smile first, and then his white cloak, both of which reflected the moonlight.

_No way, _she thought.

"Are you…up in a tree?" she asked incredulously.

Naruto looked at the tree he was sitting in, as if just noticing for the first time. "I guess I am."

Sakura felt a laugh erupt from her gut, and the sound echoed throughout the silent park. It wasn't really that funny, not any more than his usual antics. It was probably the park, she figured. Relaxing environments like this killed her stress.

And Naruto, in most cases, killed her stress, too.

In one quick movement, he hopped from the tree and landed on the ground, putting his hands on his hips.

"I come here a lot when I want to think, so I don't always notice my surroundings," he said. "I normally just think, and because of that, I end up in some weird places."

"You? Thinking?"

He pouted. "It happens to the best of us!"

Sakura chuckled again, and he grinned. He looked the same as he always did, with his toothy smile and his orange jumpsuit. She kind of missed when that's all he wore, but she really didn't mind the white cloak either. It looked incredibly good on him.

Naruto looked around at the dark plaza. "I didn't expect to see you here. Normally, I'm the only one. I'll admit, though, it's nice to have company."

"Well, tonight, I'm doing the same as you, I guess," she said. "Escaping the town for a while to go to a quiet place to… to think."

"About?"

She could've said a whole number of things. She decided to keep it simple.

"Stuff."

"Stuff," he repeated. "'Stuff' is great, especially when you're really vague when talking about it."

She shot him a look. He looked back with a cocky expression.

He really had grown. She used to just toy with him in conversation. But now, it seemed that he could use words to fight back. She didn't know whether it was appealing or annoying.

"When did you become good at sarcasm?"

"I think it was the day I got this cloak," he said, touching the edges of his collar with his bandaged hand. "If I was gonna wear something of my dad's, I had to fit the part. He was super cool, so I had to become cool, too."

She cocked her head to the side. "You're still not cool. You're still the same."

He laughed. "Consistency is key in a leader, Sakura-chan."

_A leader..._ Sakura thought.

Even though it was three years later, it was still weird to think of him as a leader, let alone the leader of the whole of Konoha. Sure, he'd had leader-like qualities, and his dad had been Hokage too….Okay, it wasn't really that weird, but thinking about how much he'd grown not just in appearance but in maturity made her feel weird.

_Stop,_ she thought. _Stop acting weird, Sakura. Stop thinking things._

Naruto followed her gaze and looked the statue of Jiraiya up and down. Then, he crossed his arms. "He's nice to think with, I must say, considering we never really did it when he was alive."

She looked over at him and saw that he was smiling slightly. "You never thought when he was alive?"

He shrugged. "Not really. There wasn't much time for thinking. We normally trained together, or were eating popsicles or ramen, or sneaking into the girls' baths."

A second passed, and Naruto's eyes widened at what he'd just said.

"Shit. Don't tell anyone that."

He looked animatedly sheepish, which made Sakura chuckle again.

"Well," she said, "you can probably be sure he's doing that in the afterlife. Tsunade-sama seems to think so. I think even when she gets in the baths by herself she still feels self-conscious since…his eyes can always see her."

She didn't know why she was telling Naruto this, but he looked genuinely curious.

"Note to self," he said, laughing. "Peep in the afterlife."

That called for a _whack!_ Despite the joke, though, she still felt a little weird, and she couldn't help but picture the little daisies on Hinata's kimono.

"Why…why aren't you at the Fireworks?" she decided to ask him. "Isn't it, like, the Hokage's job to attend that?"

"Actually, I was there for a while," he said quickly, and Sakura figured he was eager to get away from the topic of peeping after being smacked. "That's why I have paint on my face. A little girl attacked me in a hug on my way out, and her face paint wasn't dry yet, so I got smudged."

Sakura cocked her head. She hadn't even noticed he had a large splotch of dark paint stretched across his face from the corner of his lip to the middle of his cheek. How she hadn't seen that, she didn't know. Then again, it was dark as hell out.

"Ah, the costs of being admired. Face paint smudges. How traumatizing."

"Hey, they aren't fun! And I think it dried already, so that sucks."

He rubbed his fingers ferociously at the paint, puffing out his bottom lip and furrowing his eyebrows. Sakura watched him and couldn't help but notice that even though he was now a grown adult, Naruto still had the tendency to look like the stubborn little kid he used to be when he worked hard at something.

_Maybe he didn't really grow up that much, after all, _she thought.

"So," he started, still trailing his fingers across his cheekbone, "you never told me what you're thinking about."

Sakura felt her heart start to beat a little faster, which was annoying.

"Does it really matter?"

Upon seeing his eyebrows rise, she realized that was a bit mean.

"I'm…I'm sorry. Naruto, I just have a lot on my mind. My parents, the hospital, medicine…"

"Okay, so which of those things is making you sad?"

There was a weird jolt in her stomach. She whipped her head to face him.

"What?"

"Well, why are you sad? Y'know, besides the medical stuff. That stuff is mad boring, so I get why you'd be sad about that."

"I-I'm not sad! Who said I was sad?"

Naruto turned his whole body to face her. "Come on, I know you better than that. Normally on this kind of night you'd be with friends like Ino, Kiba, or whoever. You'd be taking a break from the hospital because it's stressful over there. You weren't at the Fireworks even though I saw your mom auctioning off your pie. Instead you're here, in a dark, depressing park staring at a bronze replica of my old, pervy teacher. That's not normal for you. So what's up?"

Instead of noting that he knew all that about her, Sakura was getting agitated. "Nothing is up!" she complained. "And you're here too! What's your explanation, eh?"

Naruto crossed his arms. "You really want to know?"

"I did just ask, so, yeah."

"I'm here for him."

Sakura watched as he fully turned his body toward the statue of Jiraiya, and she immediately felt a little guilty for being so reluctant to answer his question, and also for thinking of herself during a time of remembrance of Konoha's heroes.

"O-oh."

_I really am terrible_, she thought. _Jiraiya-sama…everyone…I'm…._

Naruto trained his blue eyes on the face of his old master. His cloak rippled in the breeze. "The Fireworks are held in celebration for all the ninja who've fought and defended our village. So, I thought I'd come and pay tribute to who I felt was…a great ninja who died protecting our village. He believed in me, so the least I could do is come and visit him today."

It was the comments like this that put Sakura between a rock and a hard place. Naruto, she knew, was not the smartest guy. Sometimes he was far too childish and naïve for his own good, and he also made rash decisions based off his emotions. But, Sakura believed with all her heart that he truly was wise. Because of this, and because of all the goodness and humility he possessed, she couldn't help but find further truth in what she'd told Tsunade at her house the other day.

_"__It's not that I don't deserve good things. It's that he deserves great ones."_

"So, why are you unhappy, Sakura-chan?"

He asked it again, and she almost hit him again. How dare he ask that after being so…so...

"I'm…fine, Naruto."

"You're not."

She relented for a second as she felt something within in her weaken. Was it physical? Mental? Was it her resolve to…to what?

"I'm not."

Everything came flooding to her tongue, then. She suddenly wanted to tell him about how great he was, how utterly beautiful she thought Hinata looked tonight, how Hinata was his perfect match and would make him happier than any stupid childish crush of his would, how much her parents wanted her to be happy, how she'd gotten sucked into the black hole that was her feelings for Sasuke years ago and how that was all a mistake, how much she wanted to get stronger so she could be worthy of the praise she got, how much she wanted Tsunade to feel good even though almost everyone the woman cared about was dead, and how he really, _really_ shouldn't look at her like he was now _ever,_ because nothing made sense anymore and it was peaceful and there was no chaos to distract her from anything anymore.

He was leaning toward her expectantly, awaiting an answer. His luminescent eyes were soft and his lids were lowering as her eyes were adjusting, and she pretended not to notice all of it, even though her heart thundered in her too-small chest. Most girls could only dream of having a man look at them this way. But for Sakura, she felt like this was a nightmare.

"I…"

Did she dare look at him? What expression would be on his face? What would be on hers?

"I have to go."

She stood up abruptly, causing Naruto to flinch. He brought his hand to the back of his neck and looked toward the ground. She couldn't see what color his face was.

"Go…to the Fireworks?"

"No. Home."

He looked up, concerned. "Did I do something?"

She shook her head. "No! No, you didn't! You…didn't do anything wrong."

He stood up too, and there was a look of apprehension in his eyes. "Do you want me to walk you home?"

Now she was just irritated, with him, with herself, with everything.

"Do you think I can't walk myself home? I think I can cover such a facile task as that."

His confused look compounded. "Facile…?"

"Easy. Simple."

"Oh," he said. He looked embarrassed, but snapped out of it quickly. "Look, I know you can do it on your own, but…maybe I just want to go with you. To spend time with—"

She couldn't deal with this. He was too endearing. And…she needed to cut it off now before he got hurt again.

_"__I hate people who lie to themselves!"_

"Naruto," she said firmly. "I'm tired. And, I have a lot on my mind. But…thank you."

She forced her eyes to close and for a small grin to appear between her cheeks.

"I'll be fine."

_I still want to tell you everything, _she thought. _How's Hinata, Naruto? She's pretty, isn't she? And she likes you a lot._

But she shoved those thoughts down and walked toward the gate. Talking to him tonight would be hard, especially if it was about Hinata. Who knows what she would say? Or worse, what she would find out?

Then, she heard,

"You may be older now, but your fake smile still looks the same."

She stopped under the weight of his gaze on her back. Her feet felt heavy, and she eventually forced herself to keep walking.

"Good night, Naruto."

"Good night, Sakura-chan."

He said it softly, and she felt her face heat up. Immediately, she pushed off the ground and shot off toward her house with all the strength she could muster.

* * *

As much as she tried, Sakura couldn't find sleep that night, and not just because there were fireworks going off outside her window. The festival, it seemed, was over, and it had finally come to the point of the night where the grand finale took place. Sakura couldn't see them, but she still heard firework after firework being shot, one after the other, probably producing colorful outlines of leaves, flowers, stars, and other designs. After each one, she heard a chorus of "oohs" and "ahs".

_Damn, _she thought._I left my textbook at Ino's._

She laid awake, picking at the frayed corner of her pillowcase, with her back facing the window and her feet entangled in her blanket. She'd made herself a late night dinner, and she'd hoped to find her father home, but he'd gone with her mother to the festival. She didn't feel she had the right to be offended because she'd chosen to stay home, but she decided to focus a lot more on how betrayed by her parents she felt, rather than on Naruto and how much of a shitty person she was.

Nonetheless, her mind strayed, and she thought about him anyway.

"Irritating," she muttered. She couldn't hear herself because of the fireworks.

She eyed the pillowcase and continued to pick at it. Naruto's face, with his eyebrows creased in apology and his large, blue eyes filled with worry, appeared in her mind.

_"__Did I do something wrong?"_

"No, idiot," she whispered, staring at the pillowcase.

She closed her eyes.

_"__You may be older now, but your fake smile still looks the same."_

Sakura made a mental note to practice her fake smile in the mirror.

She heard the sound of cheering coming from the town, signaling the end of the grand finale. Eventually the cheering died down. And it was in that moment, the millisecond right at the end of the cheering, that she heard it. It was the sound of someone drawing a knife right behind her.

_What?_

It only took a fraction of a second for her to realize what was happening. Using her arms, she launched herself off her bed just as the knife came down and slashed her mattress. She rolled into a defensive position and focused her eyes.

Next to her window stood a lean, tall person wearing all black and a dragon mask. His knife, which was about the length of a flute, was jabbed into her bed. She'd nearly just been skewered.

Sakura knew that she was often very self-deprecating, and in most cases focused on her flaws rather than her strengths. However, there was one thing she really loved about herself. The past few years had been a breakthrough for her. She'd acquired a skill she'd long yearned for after many years of sitting back and watching Naruto and Sasuke fight her battles, something she'd so earnestly hoped to achieve at some point in her life: the art of focusing so well in battle, being so confident in your abilities that you are able to comfortably trash talk.

Yes. Trash talk.

"I admit," she said, glaring up at the man, who tugged his knife out of the mattress. "You took me by surprise."

In no time, she was on her feet, swiftly dealing a chakra embedded right hook to his jaw. Air rose around them, blowing her pictures off her walls and cracking the vase on her nightstand. He stumbled back.

Sakura hopped back a few feet. She surveyed the effects of her blow. "Strong jaw. Most men lose their whole heads when I do that."

_Ok, so my trash talking skill could use a little work, _she thought to herself. _Other people make it look so easy._

The man launched at her, blade pointed toward her chest. Sakura slammed her forearm into his elbow and pushed. He pushed back. His knife arm inches from her face. The blade was so close she could see her reflection in it.

The man spun and kicked at her head, but she used her left arm to block it. She swung her other arm in a punch. It soared over his head, as he ducked and jumped toward her. She slid to the side, kicking him. The man slammed into her headboard. The wall behind it cracked.

She looked at the man, who shook his head to regain his focus. The eyes of his dragon mask found her own.

_I'm being targeted. By an assassin._

She didn't really have time to think about it, but it reminded her of when Sai's true motive to kill Sasuke was revealed to her. Sasuke had committed terrible deeds, which was why he was targeted.

So why was she?

Hell, how did he even get past the border patrol?

The man launched at her, but his movements were quick.

"Yah!" she screeched, but only for a second. She'd managed to evade any major blows to the organs, but the man had stabbed her shoulder, which was now gushing blood. It would only be a short time for her healing powers to repair the damage. The man in black jumped back a few feet.

Sakura glanced at the bloody stream pouring from her left shoulder.

"What's this I see? A stab wound?"

She powered up her right fist with green chakra. It flamed and sizzled in her hand.

"How thoughtful of you."

In a second, her ignited fist broke through the mask, and sent the head off the body.

_Okay, Sakura. That was a little bit better! Try being more creative with the word choice next time, though. _

For a minute, the body remained standing, but eventually sank to its knees.

Sakura sighed and looked at her wound. It was already starting to close. Then, she knelt down next to the head. There was no blood.

And the person was no one she recognized.

She could hear pedestrians coming closer after hearing the ruckus. Her eyes took in her torn mattress, the head on the floor, the cracked vase, and the shards of broken glass from who knows what that littered the floor. She then went to her kitchen, got a bag, and stuffed the body, head, knife, and the remnants of the mask into it. Then, she hopped up onto the windowsill and immediately headed for the Hokage's building, all amidst the sounds of bustling crowds and the smell of smoke.

Tonight, it seemed, she'd be sleeping at Ino's.


	12. Chapter 12

**Hola, world! I'm back again! Sorry for the reeeaaaally long time since updating, again. Like I said before, college can really take it out of ya.**

**And speaking of taking it out of ya, this is a ****_really long chapter._**** Like, 22 pages single spaced on a word document long. However, there was so much I wanted to cover with Naruto's POV (spoiler alert: This chapter's in Naruto's POV) so I decided put it all in one chapter, even though it feels like five. Let me know in the comments if this chapter is too long for you, and I can work on breaking it up!**

**This is also a pretty morbid chapter, if I do say so myself. Lots of angst, lots of confusion, lots of blood….and it might not have taken the turn people thought it would, but honestly, if you don't like it, don't read it! Seriously, I will not be offended! There are thousands of other stories to choose from. Admittedly, this was probably the hardest chapter I've written for this story, so it could probabl-no, most ****_definitely _****use some work. Like I said earlier, I'm not fabulous at suspense and depicting high stress situations, but hey, I tried. Thanks so much for all the positive feedback! I really do appreciate it!**

**I've already mentioned this, but I'm eliminating a lot of the end of series powerups from this story because it makes Naruto and Sasuke untouchable which isn't that fun to write. In this, the highest form of power Naruto has mastered is Kyuubi chakra mode (excluding all his clones that can heal people. That's just no fun and no one would ever die ever and I really don't think that's fun to write , so yeah).**

**As a final note, I'm sorry if the chronology of the events in this story isn't clear. Chapter s 9 (Hinata), 10 (Iruka), and 11(Sakura) all are happening simultaneously. This chapter begins after the Fireworks show from the last few chapters ****_ends. _****I'm incredibly sorry if that isn't clear or if something is confusing. I am still quite the novice writer, and there's a lot I could probably improve on. **

**All right, onto Chapter 12!**

* * *

Chapter 12

Naruto was there in a flash, or so he thought. After what felt like a minutes after the final beat of the firework finale, he heard screams break the calmness of the July night air. His ears perked. More screams. In seconds, he bounded off the bench where he'd been pondering his talk with Sakura, landed on the roof of a house, and leapt through its open window. There, he found a bloody dining room and a man holding the body of a young woman in his arms.

He was wailing like a siren and her life, it appeared, had been severed at the neck. Her body was a grayish, moldy color.

Naruto's eyes widened slowly.

_What?_

"What happened?" he yelled at the man, sliding his way across them to cradle the woman's body and checking for any sign of life.

She was completely dead, and Naruto knew immediately that the husband knew that, but hadn't the heart to say it. Instinctually, he grabbed the body, hopped back onto the window ledge, and started off toward the hospital at lightning speed, only to hear more screams echoing through the night, some from houses really close and some from farther away.

"No…."

In what felt like one step, he was on the porch of another one of the houses. In it was a similarly gruesome scene, except this time it was two little boys, the younger one with dripping wet tiger face paint from the Fireworks. The older one was huddled over a woman who was completely covered in blood.

"You can do it!" the younger boy sobbed.

The older one didn't respond, as he was performing CPR. Naruto knelt immediately, with the sounds of other screams and sirens in the area ringing in his ears.

"Boys, what happened!?"

The boy with the face paint leapt forward then, grabbing Naruto's cloak and screaming. "W-we came out of our rooms after hearing Oka-san scream! She's…she's _dead_, Hokage-sama!"

Naruto felt his blood freeze in his veins.

_A bunch of accidental deaths? All at once?_

His eyes narrowed.

_No. A bunch of murders._

"Dead!" cried the boy. "Dead! _Dead!"_

Naruto frowned.

"Not on my watch."

It was like second nature at this point. The young Hokage turned on autopilot crossed his two index fingers. Two dozen clones of himself appeared beside him.

"Scatter!" he commanded.

The clones listened and took off in various directions, and the real Naruto swiftly hoisted this near-dead woman over his shoulder with the other dead woman, leaving the ground through the window again and landing at another house where screams had sourced, and then another, and another, until he and two of his clones carried a small mountain of people to the Konoha Hospital, moving as fast as they could. Blood seeped onto his white cloak.

_Murders, _he thought, trying his best to think clearly. _Murders…during the festival of all times?_

His muddled thoughts were confirmed as he laid eyes on the hospital, which was surrounded by what looked like hundreds of other people. All of them were crying or screaming or swearing angrily at whoever would listen, and Naruto was immediately thrown back in his memory to the day Pain had invaded. It had been complete chaos, or so he'd been told, as he'd been training and had shown up mid-battle. After the invasion, Sakura had told him that there were injured everywhere, corpses, monsters of orange and black, and grown men and children alike screaming bloody murder. Everyone had been frightened, panicked, and completely lost. It had been, in her words, "a complete nightmare".

Was this…that again?

Using his authority as leader of the village, he, as calmly and quickly as he was able, leapt to the front of the crowd and flew into the building, put the injured under the care of the medics, and left without a second thought. He didn't ask any more questions, because when people are in need, sometimes elaboration has to wait.

After quickly ordering others to search for as many injured as they could find, Naruto flew to the woods surrounding Konoha, scouring them with immense, breathtaking speed. He leapt from tree to tree, his senses on high alert for malice in the area. The dim, green scenery passed in a blur as he launched his body through it, his eyes touching everything for a second before roving again. His hair whipped in the night wind.

_How could I let this happen? _he thought. _How? It was…so fast!_

After about twenty minutes, during which his desperation and anger had increased exponentially and the moon had steadily become less covered by clouds, he stopped for breath on a thick tree branch. He'd searched the entire circumference of the village as well as the peripheral woods three times now. He'd found nothing. No killers. Not a soul.

His features reflexively contorted in pure, boiling rage.

Whoever they were, whoever had done this, had outsmarted him. They, he realized with a bubbling, hot sensation in his gut, had gotten away.

* * *

Making way back to the hospital was impossible using the roads, so Naruto used the roofs to propel himself with jet speed towards the center of town, where the bustle was so loud that his steps were noiseless on the shingles. His eyes swept over the streets, taking in the horrible scene in front of him: Crowds of families, fathers and mothers and children, young couples, senior citizens, all screaming and evacuating the town square.

He looked to his left at the park adjacent to the scene. The shinobis he'd given orders to had seemingly done their jobs, and done them quickly. Aside from a few of his clones and a couple figures huddled over injured people, the park had been vacated. All that was left were blankets, picnic baskets, and the lingering smell of smoke.

Naruto felt his clones dissipate, one by one. They'd found all the injured they could in less than a half hour. As expected of Konoha warriors.

His hand moved up to cover his eyes. His jaw clenched so hard he felt his teeth might break in his mouth. He felt his feet nearly give away under him as he paused, just for a moment, in his run.

He listened to all that surrounded him. Wailing. Screaming. Crying. Blood. Chaos.

Then, he was moving again, although his feet now felt heavier with each step.

* * *

"Naruto, there you are! Thank goodness!"

Naruto shot to the ground, meeting the ruby eyes of a terrified looking Kurenai, who was clutching her daughter. He had landed at the top of the stairs leading into the hospital, the outside of which was more crowded and hectic than it had been a half-hour ago.

"Kurenai-sensei, are you all right?"

She nodded quickly. "But these people aren't…I've been trying to console them…"

Naruto looked past her. There were so many people…

"None of them are injured," Kurenai said shakily, clutching her daughter closer. "They're the loved ones of the attacked, I think…the waiting room is too full, so they're forced to wait out here. They've been asking me so many questions…but I can't answer them!"

It dawned on Naruto that he, too, had no answers for these people. He didn't entirely know what happened himself, but the result was right in front of him. What was he to say?

"And…the injured?"

"Everyone who was severely hurt has been taken in by the medics. These people out here just have minor injuries. They're more shocked than anything else. Naruto, you…your clones did wonders."

Naruto closed his eyes, eyebrows furrowed. "Good. Any other news?"

"The…well…"

She stopped, trembling for a second. Then,

"There are nearly dead people who haven't even been attended to! I don't know why…we always have enough medics! Why is this time different?!"

He barely heard her. He just listened to the crowd. They were calling his name, he knew, but the noise was so loud and muddled that he couldn't make out the words.

"-But if only Sakura and Tsunade-sama were here, then it would only take a little-!"

Naruto's eyes snapped open. "What? You mean…they're not here?"

She shook her head frantically. "No one's seen them!"

He felt a sudden chill come over him. Come to think of it, his clones had come across almost of his friends at some point amidst the ruckus. At one point or another, he'd seen Shikamaru commanding ninja to search the rural areas, Hinata wearing pajamas and sprinting from her house toward the park, Kiba and Akamaru frantically evacuating people from the town square, Sai scouting on one of his painted birds and helping usher people towards the hospital, Shino, TenTen, and Lee lugging people from houses and festival activities, and Chouji struggling with an injured Ino, who'd been screaming at him that she was fine…he knew they were all okay. But, neither he nor any of his clones had seen Sakura or Tsunade this entire time…

_"Do you think I can't walk myself home? I think I can complete such a facile task as that."_

He immediately bit his tongue as hard as he could to steady himself and closed his eyes again. If there was one thing he could not allow himself to do, it was lose his composure. He _had _to keep it together, whatever happened. He had to tell people that everything would be all right. He had to _make sure _everything would be all right, because that's what Hokages do. And that's what people needed in situations like this.

Still, if something had happened to Sakura when he had let her walk home alone…

"Naruto!"

There was a light slap on the shoulder, and as if on a queue, Sai was there next to him. And then, they all were. Ino, Chouji, and the whole of Team 8 landed next to him, followed by Lee and TenTen. His friends had come. And they were all together, safe.

"Naruto!"

"Oi, Naru-Hokage-sama, I mean. What-!"

"N-Naruto, what's…what's going on?"

They were all covered in splatters of blood, but the worst was Ino, who looked as though she could pass out on the spot. She was shaking, a huge red gash oozing on her forehead and another one across her right shoulder. Her left thigh was wrapped up in thick layers of bandages, and she seemed to be limping, as she was grasping Chouji's arm for support and wincing with every step. Kiba's teeth were bared and his eyebrows were creased with concern as he panted loudly, looking desperate and fearful. Shino's normally placid expression was replaced with something that looked like deep stress, and the same look was mirrored on Sai, TenTen's, and Lee's faces. Hinata was holding her hands together and shivering, trying not to cry but failing as tears leaked down her face.

"Not again," she was saying under her breath. "No, no, no, not again…"

"Why were there so many dead people?" TenTen cried, looking at Naruto with fear plain in her eyes. Then, she broke completely. "Why? _Why? It all happened so fast! I don't-"_

"I didn't even see anything happen!" Kiba said, lining up and kicking a rock so ferociously that it wedged itself deep into the bark of a nearby tree. "I didn't even know people were getting killed! We walked home and must've just _barely missed them! How could that fucking happen?"_

"It's…no fault of your own!" said Lee, breathing hard. "There-there was no warning-"

"Where the hell's the staff?" yelled Chouji, looking around while keeping his arm holding Ino steady. "Why aren't there more medics here?! Where's-where's Tsunade?! Where's Sakura?! They could heal all these people in seconds!"

Naruto looked at the lot of them.

"Sakura-chan, she…she's not with you guys?"

Kiba shook his head nervously. "Haven't seen her since we were at Ino's before the Fireworks. That was like 5 hours ago!"

TenTen looked horrified. "You don't think she…!"

"Of course not," Ino said, although she almost keeled over as she did so. "I…I fought one off that came after me, so if she _was _attacked, she surely did the same!"

She looked at Naruto as she said it.

Naruto nodded mutely, turning to look at the distressed, screaming crowd. It seemed to increase in number every time he looked at it.

"All the injured have been found and are with the med-nin, yeah?"

"Yes, as far as we know," said Sai. "There've been no further reports. Your clones sped up the job of gathering them, but we're still extremely medically understaffed here. There are people that probably won't make it because they won't be attended to in time."

"That's not acceptable," said Naruto. "People will probably die here tonight, but it will not be because they are left unattended to! We will _never _leave a person alone in their hour of need, whether we know medical ninjutsu or not! TenTen! Lee!"

"Y-yes!"

"Head inside and find the head medic that's in there. I need you to help in any way that you can, whether that means consoling the mourners or clearing the space for the medics. Go!"

They went, and the Hokage turned to Kiba.

"Take Akamaru and scout the town. We've probably found most of the injured, but we need to make sure. Search everywhere."

Kiba nodded and leapt away, Akamaru following obediently.

"Kurenai-sensei!"

The woman promptly handed her daughter over to Hinata and stepped forward.

"I need you to send a letter to the other Kages at once. Inform them of everything that happened tonight in as much detail as you can. They need to know."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

She jumped to the roof like a cat and then was gone.

"Shino, I need you to head into the hospital and check on the patients that _weren't_ targeted tonight. Make sure they are still being tended to as they usually would be. We don't have medical staff to spare, so I need you to fill in."

Shino left promptly and soundlessly.

"Hinata."

She looked up quickly, wiping away tears and looking taken aback at being addressed directly. "Y-yes?"

"Stop crying," he said softly, turning to look at her. "It's going to be all right…no matter what happens. I need you to head into the nursery and make sure all the babies are being fed and kept safe. I doubt there's anyone tending to them right now because of all this, so I need to make sure they're taken care of. They're the next generation of ninja, and they're helpless. They need you. Can you do that for me?"

After a second or two, she nodded and rushed inside with Kurenai's daughter, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.

"And Chouji, take Ino inside. She needs medical attention. She's barely able to stand."

"I don't need help," she said forcefully. "I'm fine!"

"Hokage's orders."

Chouji tried to move her, but she stomped on his foot, causing the appearance of a pink tinge on her cheeks that brought her face back to something close to her normal color. "I _said _I'm fine! There are people here in much a worse state than me!"

Naruto just looked at her for a second. His expression softened for a second.

"Well, I guess there's no moving you, then. Sai?"

Sai stepped forward.

"I need you…to find Sakura-chan and Baa-chan. They're our only hope if we want to save these people. Go."

Sai closed his eyes and nodded.

"Yes. Hokage-sama."

He quickly painted a bird and left riding its back, leaving Naruto, Ino, and Chouji there with the deafening crowd.

They were silent for a long time, listening. People were yelling, crying, screaming in despair.

"Hokage-sama! Help!"

"My daughter…Hokage-sama, will she make it?"

"Where are the medics?!"

Naruto soundlessly turned back around to face the crowd. Chouji looked sadly at the back of his blood stained, white cloak seemed to float in the night breeze.

"Should we…console them, Naru—er, Hokage-sama?" he asked.

The wind picked up slightly and whipped his cloak more forcefully, causing for leaves to swirl around them and for Ino to shiver. They watched as Naruto slowly bent his head. His face was hidden, but they figured his expression was strong. Unbeatable, like it always was.

But, after a minute of not answering, the Hokage found his voice.

"…Chouji…Ino…where's your teammate?"

Ino, startled by his sudden change in demeanor, looked at him intently. "You mean…Shikamaru?"

"He's inside, I think," said Chouji slowly. "With Kakashi-sensei…he's working frantically…looked really distraught when we saw him…"

The Hokage stood completely still, and it appeared for a moment that the wind might blow him away. His fists were clenched. Leaves of brown and green blew into his hair. The sounds of the crowd nearly drowned out his voice as he spoke again, this time much quieter than before.

"Because, I…I could use some advice right now…."

The two widened their eyes, but what their responses were to his sudden vulnerability, the collapse of his wall he'd been holding up all night, Naruto never got to hear, because something slammed with a huge force against the ground behind the crowd, causing him to turn and snap out of his daze. Sakura, pale-faced yet determined, had landed like a small meteor on the ground from who knows where, leaving a crater in her wake and wearing a white lab coat over her pajamas, with a tear stained, yet equally motivated Shizune in tow.

"I'm here," she said, pulling on her gloves.

Naruto felt another surge in his gut at the sight. A few people cheered, but most were thunderstruck and still panicking. The women leapt their way over the crowd, landing right next to Naruto and the others, facing the door.

"Head in," Sakura commanded to Shizune, quickly tying up her sweaty, tousled hair and then pulling out a pack of syringes from one of her side pockets. "Clear out anyone who isn't desperately in need of medical attention! We don't have the space or the staff for all this. And we're running a 12-40, stat!"

Shizune nodded and busted through the doors, immediately giving orders until Sakura quickly called her again.

"Yes, Sakura?"

"Is Tsunade-sama back there?"

Shizune's face seemed to lose several shades of color at that moment and her eyes welled up with tears. "Y-yes, I've gotten reports that she is, b-but not in the way you thi-"

"Good!" said Sakura quickly, waving her away. "She knows what to do, then! Tell her to start preparations! With her skill, she alone could probably do this, but for efficiency's sake I plan to help her!"

She then turned to the Ino and Chouji as if just noticing they were there. She didn't waste a second.

"Ino, can you stand?" she asked quickly.

"Are you crazy?" Chouji spluttered, looking aghast. "Look at her! She's-"

"—I said_, 'Ino can you stand'?"_

Chouji looked at Ino who was smiling defiantly, though she looked a little green. She tossed his arm away from under her shoulders and stepped forward.

"Uh, _duh_."

"Do you know what a 12-40 is?" Sakura asked quickly.

"I couldn't be your best friend and _not _know what it is," she said. "You don't shut up about it. Not to mention, I do have a few years of medical experience. And you all need anyone you can get in this situation, so I'm basically _your_ saving grace."

"Okay, then get in there and don't get in my way," Sakura commanded, the smallest trace of a wary smile on her lips.

Ino hurriedly, half limped, half marched inside. Chouji followed, leaving Naruto and Sakura alone on the stairs.

Naruto turned to look at her, his cloak flowing behind him. He had no idea what a 12-40 was code for or why Sakura had been so late to arrive, but the look on her face now relayed to him that he shouldn't ask. She stared straight ahead through the doors at the scene inside, and her lip, he noticed, was slightly trembling.

"Sakura-chan?"

She didn't look at him, but her lip still trembled and she winced slightly, from what kind of pain, Naruto didn't know.

"Make it quick," she said quietly.

Something shifted inside him upon seeing her, and he felt what was left of his composure collapse completely. His inhibitions dissipated, and the calm, levelheaded, leader-like act he'd been forcing himself to keep up this whole time crumbled, revealing all the emotions he'd kept inside for the last hour. All the panic, anger, fear, confusion, sadness, worry, and regret.

_This is all my fault._

"Sakura-chan…I don't know what to do," he whispered.

_Dad, help me._

"I…I should know. I should, but I-I _don't._"

He spoke it just loud enough for her ears. There was no way he would allow anyone else to hear it, because if they did, if they saw the most dependable, most powerful, most influential ninja in the village express doubt, everything would be unravel, and the trust would be gone. He allowed for this to be seen by her only, in this moment. And he prayed that she wouldn't lie to him. He needed answers. Anything.

But as she looked up at him, just for the short second that she stood there, he realized that they were the same. In that second, her guard was down and her façade of composure in this situation had fallen, same as his. He felt she was trying to communicate with him using just one look, as there wasn't the time for elaboration. Her terrified eyes said a million words, but her mouth only said three:

"I don't know," she whispered.

* * *

There was a pounding in his ears. Shizune had filled him in briefly.

_78 people confirmed dead as of right now, number of wounded yet to be determined. _

His brain was running a mile a minute. Sakura, Shizune, Ino, and the other medics were working furiously.

_The targets primarily consisted of women, ages 18 to 40._ _A few men were also among the attacked._

He'd found a barren room at the side of the hospital to sit in that only had one chair. Naruto didn't feel like sitting in one, so he sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, eyes closed.

_Also…Naruto, a-a patient wants to see you. Wait in here, please, until she's r-ready._

Shizune had started crying buckets after she said that, and Naruto hadn't a clue who would want to see him at this time. What would they say? What would he say? What could anyone say in this situation? He leaned forward slowly and put his head in his hands. He couldn't get the image of the little boy giving his mother CPR out of his mind.

Almost an hour had passed since Sakura and Shizune had arrived, and in that time, the help had increased ten-fold. The crowd outside the hospital had disappeared for the most part. Most had been brought into the rooms of their loved ones, who had now all been attended to thanks to Sakura summoning Katsuyu. She'd pronounced them alive or dead, and the anguished families had been moved by Lee and TenTen to a different location to mourn in private. Upon Sakura's arrival, everything had improved for the most part. Sai, however, had returned without word of a trace of Tsunade.

_Shizune had said something about Baa-chan being in the back,_ thought Naruto. _But, what did she mean? If she was here, wouldn't she be helping the medics?_

He suffocated in the silence and his boiling questions up until quickened footsteps turned into a creaky door opening as Shizune burst into the room, panting with her hand on her chest.

Naruto stood immediately. He met her eyes, which no longer held any determination like they had before. They were only teary now, muddied with trails of runny mascara.

Swearing under his breath, he followed her.

* * *

After moving past a dozen rooms filled with patients, they finally reached a door, and Naruto, not feeling like waiting around, objected when Shizune stepped in front of him to block his entrance.

"What's the big idea?"

She stared at the floor, her sobs interrupting her words. "Please-be quiet-when entering-this wing-Hokage-sama. W-we don't like to-disturb our patients."

Naruto frowned. "I hear yelling behind the door. Whose room is this?"

She grabbed the handle.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Naruto's eyes widened. "Shizune, what-?"

She opened the door to a startling scene, and with that, the words died in his throat.

Sakura, who had at least appeared composed not a half hour earlier, was fighting desperately against two other medics, who were gripping her by the triceps and preventing her from moving. Her light pink hair was in disarray. Her face was much paler than before and her voice was rough, but that didn't stop her from yelling at the top of her lungs.

He felt Sai appear in the doorway behind him. He heard his sharp inhale. He saw Shizune's knees hit the tile floor as her wails filled the room like a gunshot barrage. Kakashi leaned against the far wall, eyes closed and brows furrowed. Shikamaru in a chair in the corner, his head in his hands.

"I can do it!"

Sakura was screaming. Sobs and coughs alternated between her words. She was pulling with all her might against the nurses, but in her weakened state, which hadn't been apparent an hour ago, it didn't amount to much.

"Please, let me! I know what to do! I need to save her!"

"-Sakura-sama! There's nothing you can-!"

"_Shut up! _How _dare _you doubt me," she screamed hysterically. "Of course I can! _She…she taught me herself! "_

She keeled over in the nurses arms, gasping and sobbing. She reached for the bed, which was occupied with the last person Naruto ever expected to see lying in a hospital bed, instead of standing beside it.

It was in that moment that Naruto was hit with a familiar feeling, a feeling he'd felt only two other times in his whole life. The first had been in the same office he now called his own, where he'd been summoned to hear news of one of his most important people having been killed in cold blood. The second had been on a battlefield, as he'd held the punctured, lifeless body of a friend and had screamed into the night. He hadn't had this sensation for three years. He'd conquered it, harnessed it, and shoved it deep into his memory. He'd had the nerve to think that it may never return.

The feeling was complete and utter emptiness.

* * *

_"Ero-sennin, can I ask you a question?"_

_The man looked up from his book. His white eyebrow arched halfway up his forehead. The shade of the trees made his expression look darker than usual, until a small smile slipped onto his lips._

_"You? Ask a question and interrupt my me-time? You wouldn't be Naruto if you didn't do that." _

_"I only ask 'cuz you're old."_

_Jiraiya frowned. "Get to the point."_

_The boy leaned his head back against the tree trunk and closed his eyes, putting his arms behind his head as if he didn't have a care in the world about the termites in the bark that might crawl into his jumpsuit. _

_"Why aren't you married?"_

_There was a long pause as the man slowly set down his Icha-Icha novel. The wind nipped at his hair. _

_"Why do you ask?" _

_Naruto noticed the change in his voice. It was softer. He opened one eye. _

_"You always read and write those inappropriate books, and you always peep and talk about how much you love women. But you aren't with one. I just thought it was weird."_

_The old man paused again and stared at him. Naruto was starting to get antsy. _

_"Oi! Answer the question, old man!"_

_Jiraiya sighed with a smile. "Impatient, as always."_

_He chuckled and slowly set his eyes on the grass in front of him._

_"Naruto, sometimes…the heart steers your path away from what is normal," he said. "I could be married, and probably even to a really beautiful woman if I wanted to be. That would be the thing the normal man would do."_

_"And…you aren't normal."_

_"Look at yourself, pipsqueak," he said with a glare. But then, the look turned into crow's feet accompanied by a small, somber smile. "It's always a good thing to go for, the normal relationship through the normal way. If you want a life like that, with a woman like that, sure. Ask her out, get to know her, and marry her. It's easy. But…waiting for the right person, even if she's unavailable . . . it's not always the most normal but sometimes it's what a man does when he really…loves one person. You…kind of know that feeling, right?" _

_The boy crossed his arms in annoyance as a red tint trickled into his cheeks. He cleared his throat loudly. _

_"Who is it, Ero-Sennin?"_

_At this, Jiraiya laughed. _

_"Who do you think?"_

* * *

"Nar…u…to. Thank…goodness," Tsunade breathed. Her once authoritative and strength-filled voice now sounded like it had been shredded with a thousand knives. It sounded so far away, even though it was from the bed, mere feet away.

Tears welled in Naruto's eyes for the first time in three years. He felt his knees give way and his shoulder hit the doorframe as he fell against it.

Her voice was hoarse, and her chest didn't move when she talked. The covers on the bed were draped over her entire body. Her eyes were barely open, and her face was covered in gauze and bandages, along with every other visible part of her body. Her hand rested in a jar of some golden liquid, which sat on a table next to the bed.

Her appearance was now that of an old, decrepit woman who looked no younger than two hundred years old. What remained of her hair was no longer golden, but a pasty white. Her arms had shriveled to what appeared to be mostly bone, and everything from her ears to her fingertips sagged. The glimmer of the purple diamond on her forehead had gone out, and two holes in the folds of wrinkles on her face revealed her copper eyes, which had swarmed with crystal colored tears.

"It would seem…" she said softly, "that my seal…has caught up with me."

_No._

An icy cold jet shot up his spine and trickled along his joints to the rest of his body.

_No, no, no, this can't be happening._

His eyes switched again to Sakura, who was still pushing against the nurses' grip. They held her back, telling her she was too weak to do anything in her state, that the wound she herself had gotten was starting to take effect, and that there was nothing she could do anymore. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she struggled. She held her newly bandaged shoulder with one hand, the other weakly ripping at the nurses' grasp. She turned her head and her normally fearless eyes were no longer so. They bored into Naruto's like a small puppy's do when it begs its abusive owner not to kick it. Scared and pleading.

Naruto's body began to tremble as he looked from Sakura to the half-dead Tsunade in the hospital bed. The words barely escaped his lips.

"What…._happened?_"

Instinctually, he looked to Shikamaru. He was the one who knew. He knew everything. And Naruto hoped that, somehow, he would give him an answer other than the one that was probably true.

The young man looked up from his chair. He looked ghostly white and his expression was the most pained and shocked Naruto had seen it since he'd lost his father and his sensei in battle. He didn't respond.

"_Shikamaru_." he repeated as he balled his fists. His voice was gruff and low, like the ticking of a bomb before it detonates. "_What_ _is the meaning of this?_"

The advisor opened his mouth and then closed it. He was hesitating, and that was enough to prove that something was very, very wrong.

"I think we should go outside," Sai muttered, tugging on his shoulder.

"No. I want an explanation _now_."

"Naruto," Shikamaru said weakly, as he stood up slowly. "We need to…to talk about this. Away from here. Please, let's-"

But, after keeping his shit together for the whole night now, he exploded.

"WHAT'S THERE TO TALK ABOUT THAT CAN'T BE SAID NOW!? SHE'S DEAD ISN'T SHE? SHE'S GOING TO DIE, RIGHT!? HOW!? WHAT HAPPENED TO HER!? TELL ME, _NOW!"_

But, Naruto knew exactly what had happened to her. Like countless other people tonight, Tsunade had been targeted by a killer. It dawned on him that one of them probably had attacked Ino, too, which had been why she was so badly wounded.

His eyes widened, as he turned to look at Sakura's shoulder.

_Sakura-chan, too._

"SHIKAMARU!" he bellowed.

Shikamaru brought a shaking hand to his forehead. He seemed to be doing everything he could to avoid looking at Kakashi, who had now opened his eyes and was gazing intensely at yelling Hokage.

"There…were attacks…masked people," said Shikamaru, who was in clear agony, "…please, Naruto, let's go to another room. You'll disrupt-!"

"I DON'T CARE! I NEED-"

"-Naruto."

It was Tsunade's voice. He whipped his head over. Her copper eyes were barely visible.

"Go," she said softly. "Listen to your advisor…let him…speak to you… in… private."

Sakura inched toward her master, tears rolling. "Shishou..!"

Naruto's throat was raw from yelling. His chest ached.

"I'll admit… I didn't… expect to die today. But, I really… am long overdue. There are…some people I really want to reunite with… in the afterlife. Naraki….Dan…" she closed her eyes. "…Jiraiya…"

Shizune was sobbing on the floor. Shikamaru looked sick. And Naruto didn't have it in him to yell anymore.

"Baa-chan, you're not going to die!" he commanded, his voice cracking. "I won't let you. I'll get to the bottom of this!"

"Naruto, you…I…couldn't have asked for…a better successor," she said softly.

She'd completely ignored his words. Her now wrinkly cheeks arched upwards to reveal a smile that lacked a couple of teeth. Tears rolled down her face.

"…Or, a better young man…to have had…the pleasure of knowing. Thank you."

Naruto fully felt the tears now. They dripped onto the floor as Sai lightly tugged him out of the room, Shikamaru tentatively following. As the door closed, he saw her stroke Sakura's hair.

"Stay here, child," she told her. "I have…something I want to tell you..."

The door shut soundly.

* * *

It took a few minutes for it all to sink in.

_Two previous attacks with suspicious conditions, one in Sunagakure and one in Kumagakure. Seemingly unrelated, but only examined thoroughly recently. Both situations involved what appeared to be animated corpses, not to be confused with products of the Edo Tensei technique. _

_A bomb that had nearly eradicated a large portion of the village mere days ago, deflected by Kakashi._

_Jiraiya's drowned body, used as an animated corpse, wearing Sasuke's Akatsuki cloak._

_Jiraiya's body used as a tool to eradicate Konoha._

_Jiraiya's body, not at rest._

_Sasuke's cloak._

_And now, a barrage of attacks that had taken place around two hours ago, offing people who, at first had been thought to be random, but were now discovered to all be medical ninjas, men and women alike. They had all been targeted simultaneously after the fireworks finale. Tsunade, Sakura, Shizune, and Ino had been among those who, as of now, had survived the attacks. Tsunade, however, had been reduced to such a weakened state by the poison in the blade that had stabbed her that the powers of her Strength of a Hundred seal had diminished significantly, retracting her compounded youth and pushing her to the brink of death with no known cure in the works. Perhaps, Shikamaru had hypothesized, had she not used the seal for her whole life, the compounded effects on her body wouldn't have been as great._

_Sakura had been attacked but was alive, with a stab wound in her shoulder that had sent deadly poison into her body. Her seal was new enough that the damage was not as severe as her mentor's, and all she was said to need was a few days in a hospital bed with nurses watching over her. Prior to her arrival at the hospital, she'd brought in a bag to the forensics department in the Hokage building that had supposedly contained the body of her attacker for examination. A few other med-nin who had fought against the killers had done the same, Shizune and Ino among them. _

_The reason the understaffing of the medical ward had been such a problem was because a lot of them were dead._

_The killers were still being searched for, but as of now, but there were no traces of them left except for the three demolished ones. _

_Konoha, at this moment, was safe. There were no more known threats in the area. _

Having lost feeling in much of his limbs, Naruto felt his hands rise up his face into his hair. He tugged on his blonde locks to make sure they were still there. He'd even pushed some leftover tears into his hairline as he'd run his palms up his face.

He knew Sai and Shikamaru were looking at him tentatively, like nurses crowded over a man in a coma.

_"_Why didn't you tell me all of this?"

His voice was as low as it could go. His body felt hollow and cold, like an icy cave.

Shikamaru seemed to want to do anything but answer. If Naruto hadn't been still shaking, he might have hit the words out of him.

"_Answer me._"

The advisor's expression reminded Naruto of a darkened terrain, splattered with blood, and a huge explosion going off in the background. The advisor looked momentarily like a corpse, something hollow that had just heard that his father had blown himself up to save everyone. If he'd been thinking clearly, he might have felt sorry for him.

"We…" he started, speaking hoarsely and forcing the words out, "…we thought it was the best course of action."

"We?"

"…Kakashi and I."

Shikamaru's voice was a whisper. His brows were furrowed in concentration, as if it was taking everything in him to hold himself steady. His eyes then met Naruto's, whose face had now morphed into an expression that was so forced and unnaturally expressionless that he would never want to see it in a mirror.

"It was a miscalculation," the advisor said a little too firmly, as if trying to prevent his voice from shaking. "A grave one. I'll…I take full responsibility. All of it."

There was a pause in which all that Naruto could hear was the muffled sobs from the hospital room and the pounding of his own brain in his skull.

"I see."

The voice, he realized, wasn't his own. It sounded like an entirely different person.

Shikamaru then abruptly stood, abandoning all pretenses of his composure and looking fearful and stricken with an emotion Naruto couldn't quite pinpoint.

"I-I'm sorry, Naruto. We…I never should've-"

But for the first time, Naruto had no desire to hear what he had to say. Whatever excuse he was about to give, well…he wasn't going to get the time to think one up.

_"Naruto, if there's one thing I must tell you, it's that the hardest part of the job is keeping your emotions in check when duty calls. Sometimes…discarding your humanity for the sake of others can be an impossible task. But, I trust you can do it when the time is right."_

Tsunade had told him that the day of his inauguration as Hokage.

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut.

"_Fuck this."_

He pushed away from the pair of them, darting out the room and heading down the hallway. He barely heard Sai's calls. The sobbing in the hospital room grew fainter as he rushed toward the doors. All he could hear now were the words no one was saying:

We don't trust you enough.

* * *

Where he was going to go, he didn't know and he didn't really care. In minutes, he'd moved straight though the town square, through the trees on the far left side, and along the edge of a crystal river that looked the color of twinkling sapphires in the 2 A.M. moonlight. The water churned peacefully and calmly, laughing at him as he moved along the bank. A few squirrels fought over a nut near a giant, overturned log, without a care in the world for what had transpired tonight in the village just a few hundred feet away. His feet led him along the rocks for what felt like hours, until he was forced to stop. Mechanically, he looked up and saw that the river bank had narrowed as a small grove of trees that led into the giant forest that enveloped Konoha shaded the river.

He had fled through this same forest not two hours ago, adrenaline pumping and emotions in check. Mostly.

His foot twitched, and for a moment, his sanity told him not to destroy the forest, as it had done nothing but act as bystander tonight, but then, an anguished cry escaped his throat and his foot struck the closest trunk with a devastatingly powerful kick that took down about fifteen of them. Then, another kick killed 20. Another killed 25.

Flashes of images appeared in his mind. Ino, covered in blood with a little boy delivering her CPR. Kiba and Chouji, their corpses strung up on a door. Hinata, her body in a well. Shikamaru sobbing over four dead family members. His mother, Kushina, posed like the statue of Jiraiya in the garden with blood spilling from her eyes. The face of his father and the Fourth Hokage, Minato, as he summoned the Nine Tails, who was swallowing whole families and slashing people with its claws. Tsunade in a hospital bed. Jiraiya, at the bottom of a very cold ocean. Kakashi, gutted with his intestines sprawled everywhere. Sakura and Sasuke, intertwined in a bed, both with their heads missing and blood pouring like rivers from their necks after having been ruthlessly slaughtered.

He brought his hands to his eyes and shook his head, writhing. None of that had happened and somehow, all of it felt real. His hands tore at the grass around him as he unearthed it. He thrashed and clawed at the ground, screaming into the night.

A hand slammed onto his shoulder.

"Calm down."

His reflexes kicked in and he tore away immediately, flinging grass and flipping over to thrash at the person who'd touched him. It was Kakashi, with his silver hair shining in the moonlight and his hand outstretched. His eyes weren't visible in this lighting, but Naruto figured they were glaring down at him in disapproval and annoyance.

"I can't!"

"You can."

"I CAN'T!" he roared.

He kicked furiously at everything, sending gusts of wind in all directions. Kakashi acted immediately, swiftly pinning him in a hold and stopping his flailing legs with his own. The Hokage struggled, trying to tear free, but the man's grip was firm. They were both breathing heavily. Clumps of grass squeezed through gaps in his Naruto's fingers as Kakashi's dark eyes, now visible, bored into his own.

"Ridding us of our forest isn't going to undo anything!" he yelled.

"NO!" Naruto screamed. "LET GO! I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!"

"Oh, you don't worry me," said Kakashi brutally. "You probably couldn't fight a little girl as you are right now. You're broken-shattered beyond belief. But this is _no-way-to-go-about-it!"_

"SHUT UP! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING—ABOUT-ANYTHING!"

"Trust me, Naruto, I know all about regret!"

At this, there was a lapse in Kakashi's grip and Naruto pushed free, sprawling away into a heap and rolling up onto his haunches. Kakashi flinched at his error and whipped his head toward Naruto, who looked, in the kindest words, deranged. His hair was tossed everywhere and his eyes were glossy. His cloak was lopsided on one side, and he was covered in leaves.

Somewhere, an owl hooted. The river splashed against the rocks. The two men glared at each other.

"Naruto," Kakashi began. "I—"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear anything, especially from _you!"_

The silver haired ninja shook his head. "I know. I know I have no right to tell you anything."

"You _don't_," said Naruto savagely. "You didn't tell me anything_ then_, when I needed to know all of it! So you don't get to tell me anything _now! _"

"I know my mistake," Kakashi said, trying to force as much calmness into his voice as possible. "It's _my _mistake, not Shikamaru's or anyone else's. I instructed him not to tell you anything, and for that I will forever be sorry!"

"We could've saved them!" yelled Naruto crazily. "We could've saved everyone! _I _could have saved everyone if I'd known everything!"

"You're wrong."

"I'm not! How dare you!"

"Naruto, what happened tonight was unavoidable. There was no way we could've predicted-it was so fast….and during our celebration of all times-"

"-NO!"

"THIS WAS OUT OF EVERYONE'S CONTROL!" Kakashi roared finally, the force of his voice causing him to stand.

At his tone, Naruto ceased yelling and looked up, tears flowing and his face contorted.

"You are acting so uncharacteristic of your usual self that if I wasn't so positive that everything tonight happened in real life, I'd suspect we were in a genjutsu," Kakashi said, glaring. "Kicking down trees in anger? Flailing like a maniac? _I would never have believed this of you!"_

"Well, sorry I don't live up to your expectations," Naruto spat at him. "Sorry I'm not good enough. Sorry I'm so fucking incapable of everything that you can't even tell me shit going on behind the scenes about the _fucking_ village I'm supposed to be protecting!"

"Watch your language," Kakashi said briskly. "And you know, Naruto, that everything I do I do for what I feel is good reason. I already apologized for not telling you, but like I was saying before I got interrupted so rudely, you knowing everything wouldn't have helped. This is an enemy we've never faced before. This isn't a criminal organization searching for jinchuuriki. This isn't one of my old teammates or even someone as formidable as Madara."

"Then who is it?" Naruto snarled. "Enlighten me, why don't you?"

"It's us," Kakashi said quietly. "It's our own people, or so I'm led to believe. I'm not a hundred percent sure. They were under cloaks, after all….and they were wearing masks…but…"

There was a pause.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"The people who slaughtered everyone tonight. They were us, people from Konoha. I took a look at the bodies that Sakura and the other survivors of the attacks brought in. They were corpses….probably the same type of corpses that were controlled in all those other cases…and they wore…battle vests from the Hidden Leaf."

The world felt like it was swirling. The water lapped loudly at the bank as it rolled past him. The grass he'd uprooted blew around him.

"No," Naruto said shakily.

"Yes," Kakashi said quietly. "And if it really is as it seems… then this is a war. A war against a force whose extent we have no knowledge of. They're controlling our dead."

Naruto snapped his eyes shut.

_This can't be happening. Not again._

"Why? How?" he whispered.

Kakashi, feeling it was finally safe to do so, extended his hand to help Naruto up. "That's what we're looking into."

Naruto took it tentatively and rose.

_War. Another war._

All else seemed unimportant in that moment. It was happening again. The uncertainty, the high tensions, and the bloody demands of war.

A moment passed, then,

"I'm sorry, Sensei."

"It's all right."

"I didn't mean to get so riled up. I just…"

"You acted with your heart," Kakashi said, the look in his eyes tired and sad, but soft. "You always act with your heart. If you had been thinking rationally, you would have stayed at the hospital to further sort things out with your advisor. Your heart however, caused you to subconsciously make your way here, to the river, which, for some, is a calm, safe place. I was able to find you because I knew this about you. You train here sometimes, right?"

Naruto nodded, wiping his nose on his sleeve. "It helps me…get my mind off things."

He thought back to a couple of days ago at this very spot, when he'd actually been in deep thought about a whole number of things until Hinata had approached him out of the blue and had told him she loved him. He gritted his teeth at the memory and frowned further. Dealing with matters like how to properly reject a girl without causing her pain seemed so trivial now, yet he had spent almost an hour after the event feeling horrible about it and wanting to somehow make her feel better. He would do anything to go back to that day now, because even though that had been an uncomfortable experience, people hadn't been attacked and he could still count on everyone. Everything had been okay. Normal. Manageable.

"You really should fire us, you know."

Naruto met his sensei's eyes, which were very full of shame.

"What?"

"Well," said Kakashi, "we didn't do our jobs. We're all employed under you and are required by oath to fulfill our roles for you to the best of our abilities, and we failed to do so. I'm sure there are plenty of others who are lined up for our jobs and would inform you of everything without question the moment they hear of it. So, you should hire those guys, and fire the ones who wronged you. That's what a smart Hokage would do."

Naruto was silent for a long time. He listened to the river bubbling over the rocks.

"Why are you hesitating?" Kakashi asked, cocking his silver head.

"Well, I…I-I mean…I can't just-"

"We're your friends_. _So what?We had no right to keep this all from you. It was naïve of me to think that Shikamaru and I could somehow handle all this without hurting you with the news of Jiriaya's body being involved. I'd wanted to preserve your feelings, but…it didn't seem to have helped. You have the right to be angry."

"I'm not going to fire you," Naruto said gruffly. "You guys are the smartest…I…that would be pointless. Just…just tell me next time. And as for Ero-Sennin's body…"

He paused and closed his eyes, picturing the Garden of Silver Leaves, where Jiraiya's statue stood tall and proud.

"…they can use him all they want, but that's not gonna change who he was. Of course, I'm gonna beat them down and bury his body properly, but I'm not…I'm not gonna let it break me. That's what they want."

Kakashi smiled a little. "Now _that _sounds more like you. I was worried for a bit that you were lost in there."

Naruto felt a small smile, too, in spite of all the pain. It had been the first smile in a few hours. But, it didn't stay long.

"She's dying, Sensei."

Kakashi looked up at the moon, which was shining especially bright tonight, like a giant pearl in the ocean of sky. "She might," he said. "But, she might not. That is beyond our control, and all we can do…is hope for the best. Provide support whenever and wherever we can. What you can control though, Naruto, is what we do next."

Naruto looked up, and his blue eyes met Kakashi's shadowed ones.

"Next? Ah….er…."

Kakashi looked at him expectantly.

"Let's…let's go back….figure this shit out," Naruto said honestly, rubbing his heavy and puffy eyes.

Kakashi nodded, looking softly at the man that had once been his student. "Agreed, Hokage-sama, although I probably would've said it in less vulgar terms."

"Like _you've _never sworn before."

"Perhaps a meeting first thing in the morning?" Kakashi continued, ignoring the comment. "And also a way to tell Yamato to…fix all this deforestation?"

"Yeah, that would be best, probably."

"Shall we head back?"

The Hokage nodded, and the two of them, close enough but also far enough apart, leapt back up the way towards the town.

* * *

Naruto's head was still ringing with guilt, sadness, fear, and confusion from everything that had happened, but somehow, as he and Kakashi went their separate ways when they stopped at a road a few blocks from the hospital, his mind had found its way to Sakura. Last he'd seen of her, she'd been screaming bloody murder in a hospital room…

Was she all right? he wondered, tiredly. Was the poison taking a tough toll?

Matters of the heart seemed so unimportant now that a war was imminent, but he couldn't bring himself to dismiss his thoughts of her even in this dire situation, and he didn't know why. Perhaps it was because she had been through everything with him since the pre-Genin days and her presence was always something he associated with normalcy and normalcy was all he wanted right now. Or perhaps…

He shook his head.

Who was he kidding? He loved her, and he knew it. He'd loved her for so long. There was no one else, and there never had been. He'd never been surer about anything in his life. Except, of course, that he would be able to get Sasuke to come back to the village, and look at the fiasco that had turned out to be.

Naruto put his hand to his forehead. He was exhausted. And sure, it was minor compared to almost everything else today, but focusing on his feelings for Sakura had helped him forget, at least for a second, that the peace of the village had turned to shit in the span of two hours under his watch. It was truly sad that focusing on something that had caused him so much pain over the years, in a way, was now a form of release. What was the world coming to?

"Naruto?"

Planning to tiredly retort to whoever this was that he wasn't feeling up to talking for once and that he had other things to attend to, he turned around only to see someone who was so out of place where he was, just like Tsunade had been as she wilted in the hospital bed.

"G-Gaara?!"

Sure enough, it was the red haired Kazekage himself, accompanied by Temari, Kankuro, and two assistants.

If not for how drained and emotionally manhandled he'd been from the night's events, he surely would've jumped out of his orange jumpsuit in shock. The Kazekage reached forward to shake his hand.

"Long time."

"Feels like," Naruto said, wanting to smile but not doing so, for the appearance of one of the other Kages at this time of night could mean nothing good. "What's up?"

The man in front of him creased his eyebrows in concern. Somehow, Naruto felt like he already knew what was wrong, given everything Shikamaru had said about the Sunagakure's connection with the current events. There was no way he had already gotten the letter Kurenai had sent.

"Hokage-sama," said Temari, stepping forward and putting her hand on her brother's shoulder. She looked fearful. "Naruto…can…can we talk?"

Naruto honestly felt like he'd done enough talking for one night, but the Sand Trio's sudden appearance as well as the look on Gaara's face made up his mind for him. After all, there was nothing he could do now that the dead had all been dealt with, the patients had all been tended to, and the killers had all been nowhere to be found. He wasn't a healer, so he couldn't heal anyone. There was no one to fight, and right now, everyone probably just wanted quiet. Action would be taken as soon as possible, but right now, it would have to wait.

The Hokage nodded grimly.

"Follow me."

He led them down the street towards the Hokage building. They followed silently as he eventually came upon the door at the buildings base and pushed it open to lead them to the winding stairs that led up to his office.

And as they talked, Naruto listened intently for what felt like hours, so long in fact that he wouldn't find out that Tsunade had died during the night until the following morning.


End file.
